Eventful
by WingardiumLeviosa01
Summary: Starting in January, Lily and James think that they are prepared for the rest of the seventh year that lay ahead of them. Perhaps they'd have been right if this year was anything like the others they'd had. But, seventh year is not. Seventh year is different. Seventh year is eventful.
1. Prologue

**A/N: This fanfiction is a sequel to Hogwarts: 1978. It starts after Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Jane, and Marlene's Christmas Break that they spent at the Potter's. To understand this fanfiction, you don't need to read the first book. I will explain things that you may have missed if you haven't read the first. So, without any further ado, I present to thee, Hogwarts: 1979! Enjoy!**

* * *

As she waved goodbye to Dorea and Charlus Potter from the window of the Hogwarts Express, she missed the Potter's house already. She sat down as the train started to build speed and looked to her boyfriend, who was already staring at her.

"What's up Lil?" James Potter asked her anxiously.

"I'm going to miss your house. Even though we only spent the Christmas Break there, it feels like we were there for years." She sighed, looking out the window. He grabbed her hand and kissed the promise ring he'd given her for Christmas.

"We'll go back soon. The very next chance we have." He promised her. She kissed him affectionately.

They shared their compartment with Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Marlene Smith and Jane Elizabeth, who all looked equally as sad as she felt to be leaving the Potter's and going back to school.

"C'mon guys!" James tried to cheer up his friends. "It's Hogwarts! It's our second home!"

"I don't know… I sort of thought _your_ house was my second home." Remus said.

Lily agreed with him, looking to her two best friends who nodded as well.

Jane took her boyfriend's hand in hers. "It was fun while it lasted though." She murmured, resting her head on Remus' shoulder. He kissed the top of her head adoringly.

"That it was…" Sirius sighed, staring out the window.

James chuckled. "Sad you had to leave your new motorbike at home?" He guessed.

Sirius frowned. "Yes. I only had a week with it! It's injustice!" Everyone laughed together as Sirius pouted.

"I'm going to go find Shawn." Marlene said, getting up.

"Ooh, when's McKinnon going to pop the question?" Sirius teased, poking her sides before she ducked out of the way.

"None of your business." Marlene sniffed jokingly. "See you at the Feast guys." She waved before shutting the door behind her.

"Do you still fancy her?" Jane asked almost as soon as Marlene had left the compartment. Sirius rolled his eyes. He and Marlene had dated for a couple of months and broken up right before the Christmas Break because Sirius had cheated on her. They had decided just to be friends, as things would be too awkward if they didn't. Sirius wanted to be more than friends though, but Marlene wouldn't date him after he'd cheated on her.

"Nah." He said, looking out the window again.

The group exchanged looks of knowing, but all decided to drop it.

"Not like it matters." He muttered, still looking out the window. "She hates me no matter what."

Lily frowned. "Now c'mon, you know that's not true."

"Well- maybe not _hates _me, but she'll never fancy me again." Sirius said, turning to face his friends.

"Yeah well, whose fault is that?" James asked.

"Belt it." Sirius said, pushing his best friend, who laughed in response. "I never even said a proper goodbye to Mum and Dad." Sirius said. He was—of course—referring to Charlus and Dorea Potter whom he had lived with since fifth year after he left his own house.

"It's not like you'll never see them again." James said.

"I know but still… I didn't even get a hug." He pouted again. "I did however," He said, brightening. "get Mum's delicious sugar-cookies. Who wants one?" He asked, holding out the cookies he had stuffed in his pockets before leaving his house that morning.

Everybody reached for one, knowing Dorea Potter was the best cook ever. Like, _ever._ Mealtimes were the best times at the Potter's.

"_Mmm._" Jane groaned loudly. "I'm going to miss your Mum's cooking."

Everyone agreed, savoring every bite of what would be their last taste of Dorea Potter's cooking for a long time.

"So, who's up for the first snowball fight of the year once we get to Hogwarts?" Remus asked the group.

"Sounds like a plan to me." James agreed.

Lily was a little hesitant to approve.

"James, we can't. We've got Head responsibilities. We have to make sure all the first years made it to their dorms safely and-"

"Lil. Shh." James said, kissing her. She rolled her eyes but kissed him back. "Now are you sure you don't want to have a snowball fight?" James asked her.

"Yes I'm sure." She said shrewdly, pushing him away from her but laughing all the same. "Merlin, what you would do without me, I do not want to know."

James sighed and slumped back in his seat. "It sucks because I know you're right. I just wish you weren't. _All_ the bleeding time." He said.

She chuckled and patted him on the leg. "If we have time after, we can have our fight. Priorities first."

"Yeah well, _my_ priority is to have some fun. So I think I will take you up on that offer Remus!" Sirius told his best friend.

Remus looked slightly uncomfortable. "Er, actually Jane and I just decided we were going to go down to the Lake instead."

"Sounds good to me!" Sirius said, just as chipper as before.

Remus sighed and gave his best friend a look. "Sirius."

Sirius looked at him, then understood. "Oh. Okay. Third-wheel. Got it." He said, sinking back down in his seat just as James had seconds before.

Sirius wished he still had Marlene. He wouldn't admit it to anyone for fear of sounding weak, but he missed her like crazy. He missed being able to kiss her and hug her, and tell all the other guys to stay away from her, because she was his girl. He missed her laugh. And he would bet any amount of galleons that if they were still dating, Remus and Jane wouldn't have minded letting them come. It'd be like a double-date. Instead of him being the third-wheel.

In fact, he noticed as he looked around his compartment, he was being a fifth-wheel right now. He sighed again and leaned against his seat, getting comfortable. A nice nap to clear his mind of all thoughts sounded great right now.

Lily looked at James watching Sirius sleeping.

"He misses her." James said, still looking at Sirius.

"You don't know that for sure." Lily argued.

"Yes, I do. She left her letters to McKinnon on her desk at my house and he read one. He was in a pretty bad mood after that." James told them.

"It's true. He told me he's 'over her' though." Remus said, making air quotations sarcastically.

"Well," Lily said, resting her head in James' lap. "We'll just have to wait and see where this whole thing goes. I know for a fact that Marlene is slowing falling head over heels for Shawn though." She said then paused, sat up, and kissed James gently on the lips. "Wake me up when we're almost there."

"Anything for you Lil." James said, letting her get comfortable. The sound of her light snores filled the compartment mere minutes later.

He chuckled, patting his girlfriend's hand lightly, careful not to disturb her. She grabbed his knee unconsciously, cuddling up to it. He laughed quietly, then felt his eyelids start to get heavy. Who could blame him, they had all stayed up until the wee hours of the morning last night, talking and joking around.

"I think I'll doze off too. Will you two stay up and wake us when we're almost there?" James yawned.

"Sure Prongs." Remus answered, then turned to his girlfriend. "So Ms Jane Elizabeth." He whispered, not wanting to bother his slumbering friends. "What shall we do?"

"Hmm…" She mock-thought. "I think I'd like to…" She cut herself off by kissing him on the lips. He kissed her back tenderly, wrapping his arms around her waist. He picked her up so she was sitting on his lap and she giggled.

"I love you." She told him.

He pushed her light-blonde hair out her eyes. "As I love you." He kissed the area right beside her mouth, then felt his eyelids get heavy as well. Crap.

"You're tired." She noticed. Of course she noticed. Jane noticed everything.

"We stayed up pretty late last night."

"You mean this morning." She chuckled, playing with a piece of his hair. Then she frowned. "But that's not _just_ it. When's the full moon?"

He groaned quietly, kissing her forehead. "You notice too many things."

"It's my job as a girlfriend." She said, taking his hand in hers. "Now when is it?"

"Two days." He answered by heart. He knew because he counted down the days until he would have his "furry little problem" as his friends liked to put it.

She took his face in her small hands and kissed his nose. "Get some sleep. You look like hell."

He chuckled. "I don't need it."

"You do." She argued. "Please, for me?"

He sighed leaning back in his seat. "Fine, but I won't be able to sleep."

"Humour me." She said, leaning on his chest. In seconds she heard his breathing slow, and become more relaxed. She smiled to herself proudly.

Before Jane knew it, they were ten minutes away from Hogwarts. She shook Remus gently, and he awoke for a jolt.

He yawned. "Told you I wouldn't get any sleep."

"You got me." Jane said shrewdly, then watched as he jumped when he realized how dark it was outside.

"H-how long was I asleep?"

"The whole train ride."

He chuckled and rubbed his eyes. "Guess we better wake them up huh?" He said, gesturing to his napping friends.

She nodded, and so they went around, shaking their friends awake gently. Except for Sirius. Remus and James chuckled as they woke him with a shot of _"Aguamenti."_

Lily pursed her lips so she wouldn't laugh, but couldn't control herself. She and Jane burst out into howls of laughter as Sirius sputtered.

"Okay, as if I needed _another_ shower today." He said, whipping his wet hair around so he got them all wet too. They all laughed together and changed into their school robes and soon, they had arrived.

A fourth-year girl with black pigtails knocked on their compartment.

"Come in." James called. The girl walked in, holding a piece of parchment in her hand.

"This is a message from Professor Dumbledore. He said to deliver it to James Potter and Lily Evans." She said, slightly out of breath. "Sorry about the late delivery. I completely forgot to give it to you two until about 3 minutes ago."

"It's no problem at all." Lily assured her, taking the parchment. The girl ran out of their compartment and back to hers quickly.

"She was nice." James remarked.

Lily nodded and un-scrolled the parchment, reading it quietly. James leaned over her shoulder.

"What's it say?" He asked.

"Hagrid's sick. We've got to lead the First years to the Great Hall. Then after that, we _still_ have to make sure they all remember which dorm they're in, and we have to go tell the Prefects the password which is by the way," She said, turning to her friends. "Fanged Geranium." They nodded as she turned back to James. "We've got a busy schedule. Think we can handle it?"

"We can handle anything." James grinned confidently. She smiled.

"Glad you think so because we've also rounds tonight."

James groaned and leaned on Lily for support. She laughed and ruffled his jet-black hair. This year would certainly be a long one.

* * *

**A/N: So, if you are one of the readers from Hogwarts: 1978, hope you enjoyed the sequel and it lived up to your standards! If you are a new reader to this story and want to find out what happened from September-December, feel free to read Hogwarts: 1978.**

**On a side note, a smart reviewer by the screen name of Ranma's girl, pointed out that our characters would be in 1978 in January. Their school year was 77-78. So, I have decided that after this chapter I will be changing the title to: Their Seventh Year. It just makes a lot more sense because I didn't like how two titles of my fanfictions were so identical anyway. **

**However, if you have any different title ideas, feel free to mention it because I personally, am rubbish at creating titles. **

**So thanks for reading, please review, and I'll see you next chapter!**

**-Taylor :)**


	2. Pretending To Be Hagrid

"Firs' years!" James yelled in a deep, gruff voice. "Firs' years over 'ere!"

"James." Lily warned, smacking him on the chest. "Don't mock Hagird."

"I'm on'y doin' me job prope'ly Lily." He said, grinning. "And besides," He switched back to his normal voice. "Hagrid's my friend. He can take a joke."

"Alright, but quit it. The first years look more nervous than ever now."

She said, gesturing to the clump of first year kids all looking very worried indeed. They probably thought their Head Boy had taken a Bludger to the head or something.

"Hello everyone!" Lily started. "As Hagrid is sick today, James and I are filling in for him!" She spoke loudly and clearly so the whole group could hear. She looked at James to give him a chance to speak. He had not been expecting this.

"Er, yeah. What Lil said."

Lily rolled her eyes at him, but a couple first years giggled at him. He grinned at them.

"So, if you'll all follow James and I, we'll take you to a place less crowded and noisy to do a head count and make sure everybody is here, then we'll make sure you all remember your dorm rooms. Follow me." She said, then walked away from the train and the loud students that were yelling and hugging their friends that they hadn't seen in weeks. James walked behind all the first years so he could keep an eye on them all, making sure none of them got lost.

"Er, Lil?" James called uncertainly.

"Yes James?" She called back, turning around to face him.

"Where in the bleeding hell are we going?"

The kids all laughed and covered their mouths. Lily took a deep breath, then said: "Don't listen to him. He's known by everyone as Potty-Mouth Potter."

James gasped. "Am not!"

"Are too!" Lily argued, laughing as all the kids pointed at him and cried, "Potty-Mouth Potter!"

James chuckled and rolled his eyes, pushing the kids along. "C'mon now or we'll miss the Feast."

All the kids' faces brightened at the mention of the Feast that waited for them in the Great Hall. The group reached the empty History of Magic classroom, and Lily told the students to sit down in the seats.

"Right, so now we'll take an attendance, and I'm going to ask you your dorm number." Lily told them. "Right. So er- Allen, Krista!" She called out.

"Here." A small girl called out quietly, hand quivering in the air.

"Do you remember your dorm number Zoe?" James asked politely.

Zoe bit her nail and shook her head, looking like she was about to cry.

"Don't worry, it's no big deal." James said, rushing over to her. He took her over to Lily who had the list of names and dorm numbers. "Lily here knows your dorm number, she'll tell you."

Lily smiled at Zoe. "You're in Hufflepuff. You're dorm #6."

Zoe frowned. "I'm not very good at remembering things. D'you think you could write it on my hand for me?"

Lily smiled again. "Of course Zoe." She grabbed Zoe's hand and wrote a number six on the back of it.

James grinned. "If you ever forget again, come ask me. Number 6 is my Quidditch number. I'll remember."

Zoe grinned back at him. "Thanks!" Then she ran back to her seat.

Lily looked to James. "About an hundred and fifty left to go. Think we can make it before the Feast?"

James threw his arm lazily over her shoulder. "Babe, we can do _anything."_

* * *

"Alright! That's everybody!" Lily called out. All the First years cheered.

"Now, who's ready for some delicious food?" James asked. Everybody cheered even louder, including Lily whose stomach had been rumbling for the past hour.

"Well c'mon then, let's go!" Lily said looking down at her watch. They only had five minutes before it would start. She groaned and leaned on James for support. "We can't make it there in five minutes. Not with this huge group."

James grinned. "Relax. I got this."

Lily raised a curious eyebrow at him, then put her hands up, as if to say: _Go ahead. _

He grinned again and cupped his hands to his mouth. "Alright!" He yelled loudly over the chatter. It stopped immediately. "We're taking a short-cut to the Great Hall! I want everybody to pair up and always stay with your partner! Follow me!"

And so he walked out of the classroom and turned left. He looked around, the hallways were completely empty. He turned left again, then walked up to a portrait of a knight in shining armour. The kids and Lily stared at him incredulously, but he seemed to know what he was doing, so they trusted him.

"Right, I'm going to need you to open up." James muttered, tapping on the painting's frame.

The knight opened his visor then laughed. "No sir, you cannot! You must duel me first!"

James groaned. "C'mon Cad, just let me in this time. We're late for the Feast and I _promise_ to duel you next time."

The knight looked at him suspiciously. "Alright, but next time, we are dueling. You cannot keep the fights at bay forever!"

James chuckled, ruffling his hair. "I would never."

The portrait swung open to reveal a stone staircase. "Alright then, linking arms with you partner, let's go!" He grabbed Lily's hand and walked down the stairs, bumping his head on the low ceiling. "_Ouch!_ Mind your head kids." He called over his shoulder, rubbing his forehead.

Lily looked back to see the kids laughing and trying to jump to reach where he had bumped his head. _Mind their heads. _She thought sarcastically.

"Faster now, we've got to make it there on time. Go!" Lily called out. The kids all cheered behind her and after a few twists and turns directed by James, they had made it. James swung open another door and he stepped outside, helping Lily out.

"Wow." She said, dusting off her robes. She and James helped the kids to step out, watching them all run straight into the Great Hall as fast as their little legs would carry them. "When'd you find that one?"

"Oh, third year. We were late for History of Magic after lunch and this portrait" He said, tapping the portrait they had exited by, which was a pretty woman dressed in a pale blue Renaissance style dress. "Opened up and let us through." Lily nodded, then turned back to helping the kids.

Lily and James helped out a pair of children who looked extremely angry at one another. Or rather, the girl looked extremely angry. The poor boy just looked extremely confused.

"I said go _away_ Max!" The little girl cried. The boy chased after her.

"Oh _c'mon_ Alana! I was just trying to be nice!" He called as she stomped away into the Great Hall.

Lily and James caught each other's eyes and burst into fits of laughter.

"Huh?" The first year boy turned around. "What are you two laughing at?"

Lily opened her mouth to speak but James cut her off. "Memories." James answered, catching Lily's eye and winking. Then he walked up to the boy, kneeling down so they were face-to-face. "Listen here Max." The boy looked surprised that James knew his name. "That girl, you fancy her don't you?"

Max grinned. "Yes."

"One day she'll fancy you too." James told him.

"How d'you figure that? She hates me." Max frowned.

"One day. It might be in oh, say six years or so, but one day." James said, standing up, then patting Max on the back. "Now go eat, you crazy kid."

Max waved goodbye to them both, then ran after Alana. "Oi! Alana! You're gonna fancy me too one day!" He yelled, loud enough for everyone in the hallways to hear.

"_WHAT?"_ They heard a screech come from the Great Hall. James and Lily howled with laughter, leaning on each other for support.

Lily kissed James on the cheek. "I love you. You're a bit of a git, but I love you."

James chuckled as they helped out the last couple of first years, then walked into the Great Hall together, holding hands.

"Really brings back memories though, doesn't it?"

"That it does." Lily sighed, remembering the countless times she had screamed at James to leave her alone, much like Alana had seconds ago. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Well, congratulations James, we did it." She sighed, making her way down to the Great Hall. He stopped her by pulling her back by her elbow. He put a finger to her lips to silence her, and she raised an eyebrow curiously. He pulled her by the hand to the stairs. She followed him in silence until they reached the top of the stairs, when she cracked.

"Okay, what are we doing?"

He grinned. "I knew you'd snap at some point. You've got a big mouth Ms Lily Evans."

She squeezed his hands, and mock-scoffed. "I wouldn't talk Mr James Potter. But then again, I guess you can't _help _but talk."

"Touché." James said, pulling her again by the hands. She looked around, not surprised by his behavior. It was not unusual that he randomly took her for a walk in Hogwarts. He usually ended up showing her something he and his friends had discovered before. But right now was not exactly the time for going on an adventure through Hogwarts.

"James, the Feast..."

"That hungry?" He teased. She rolled her eyes and dragged her heels so he'd be forced to stop and listen to her. He just gave her a pitying once-over, then took her around the waist and threw her over his shoulder, carrying her.

"James. Let me go." She said calmly into his back. She felt his laugh rumble through him.

"Never."

"Well then, will you at least put me down? My face will soon be as red as my hair."

"And that will be a lovely sight to see."

"James, I'm not laughing."

"A fair point. Nor am I."

"Not anymore." She grumbled.

"Another fair point."

"Are you keeping track?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yes. Lily: two points. James: one point."

"'One point'?" She quoted him. He nodded and said nothing. "How d'you figure that?"

"Well, you haven't yelled yet."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean that you love me."

She didn't say anything. He chuckled.

"Isn't that right?" He asked.

She said nothing.

"Lil." He said. Silence. "Lily." He said, louder. More silence. He pulled her off his back and took her shoulders in his hands, shaking her slightly. "_Lily_!"

"Yes?"

"Oh, thanks for responding."

"Yeah, don't mention it."

"So?" He prompted her, rolling his eyes.

"So." She repeated.

"Any comments?"

"No. Don't think so."

There was a long pause in which they both just stared into each other's eyes. Unconsciously, Lily moved forward. James did the same, and soon she felt his warm breath on her face.

"James." She whispered into his mouth, which was now simply centimeters from her own.

"Yeah?" He whispered back, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. His breath smelled of mint and his neck smelled of cologne.

"Ask me if I love you again." She said, voice barely even audible.

Without asking why, he did as she asked. "Do you love me?"

She put her arms around his neck and traced a line up the back of his neck. She grinned as she felt him shiver against her and pull her closer towards him.

"No." She told him, twirling a finger through a lock of his hair.

He kissed her passionately and she kissed him back. He walked her backwards until her back hit the wall and she laughed. She twisted them around so he was back against the wall, but he pushed her face back.

Breathing heavily, she frowned at him. His face showed no expression whatsoever.

"You're such a smart arse." He told her. It took her a moment to understand what he was talking about. Once she did, she put her hands back in his hair, pushing him back against the wall.

She grinned and kissed his neck. "I know."

* * *

**AN: Wow, it feels like I haven't written in ages! So, I am back from Quebec, it was amazing. I hope you all liked this chapter, I stayed up all night writing it on a Sunday night because that seemed like a good idea at the time. Tomorrow morning I will regret it, as usual, but who cares, right?  
Thanks again for reading and I hope you review it! Until next chapter, my lovely readers!**

**-Taylor :)**


	3. It Sucks To Be A Werewolf

**AN: Can I just say a thank you to all the readers who have been reviewing! I love hearing from each of you and hope you always conitnue to review! :) Now let's get on to the story, yeah?**

* * *

It had been a week since the students had been back from their Christmas Break now, and the atmosphere had changed.

"Two scrolls on the Inanimatus Conjurus spell for homework."

The Transfiguration class groaned at their teacher, who sniffed, but gave them a sympathetic look.

"I know you're all tired, but you have NEWTs coming up!"

"Yeah, in six months." Sirius muttered.

"What was that, Mr Black?" McGonagall snapped. "If you'd rather start going over work the day before the exam, as I know you do on every exam I give you, you may do so. But know that you are also destroying your future career."

Sirius gulped and pulled out his notebook and quill quickly.

McGonagall smiled to herself. Lily caught her eye and gave her a tired look. McGonagall gave her a look that said: _I know, I wish I didn't have to do this. But it's for your own good. _Lily nodded in understanding, and sighed to her notes. Now that she looked back on them, they were pretty much rubbish. She would have to re-write them later. She groaned as she realized that would be even more homework.

As the tired Gryffindors packed up their things at the end of the class, Remus brightened.

"Well, at least it's a Friday. We've got the whole weekend ahead of us to look forward to!"

"A weekend full of homework." Lily reminded him.

"Yay." James cheered sarcastically in a low monotone.

"Mr Lupin, may I see you for just a moment?" McGonagall called from the classroom. Jane and Remus looked at each other curiously then Remus made his way over there.

"See you lot later." Jane said, following her boyfriend over to Professor McGonagall.

"Is something wrong Professor?" Remus asked once they were at her desk.

Professor did not look up, nor ask why Jane had come when she had only asked that Remus come. She simply started sorting the papers on her desk and said quietly, "Professor Dumbledore would like to see you Remus. It should be no problem that Jane come, as long as you'd like her to."

Remus grabbed Jane's hand and nodded. McGonagall looked from their hands to their faces, and he saw a faint whisper of a smile on her lips.

"I shall excuse you from Charms. The password to his office is 'Tongue-Twisting Taffy.'" She said curtly. Remus and Jane left at that, and made their way down to his office.

"Tongue-Twisting Taffy." Remus called to the gargoyles. They leapt out of the way, and he pulled Jane in, stopping right before Professor Dumbledore's office door.

"What do you reckon he wants?" He whispered.

"No idea." Jane shrugged. "Are you sure you want me here?"

"Positive." He said curtly, gripping her hand tighter, and knocking faintly on the door.

"Come in." Dumbledore called almost the second after they had knocked.

They entered, and stood awkwardly, staring at Dumbledore. He was staring at a spot on the carpet, not looking either up as they entered.

"Er, sir?" Remus asked uncertainly.

Dumbledore looked up and blinked slowly at the pair of them, suddenly seeming to realize that they were even there.

"Hello." He said quietly. "Please, take a seat." He waved his wand and pulled up two chairs for them. They sat down slowly, wondering what was going on. "Remus," Professor Dumbledore began solemny. He sounded as if he was at a funeral, and was afraid too speak too cheerfully or loudly. "How are you?"

"I'm fine sir, but are _you_ doing well?" Remus was eyeing him uncertainly. He wasn't sure if everything was okay anymore, and he could feel his palms starting to sweat.

"I'm managing." Professor Dumbledore said. "I wanted to speak to you about your career choices." He finally said.

Remus raised his eyebrows and looked at Jane apprehensively. She widened her eyes at him nervously.

"I'm listening." Remus said slowly.

Dumbledore's head suddenly jerked up, and he looked at not Remus, but Jane. "Remus, are you sure you want Jane here?"

"Yes." Remus said firmly.

Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "I shall go on then. Remus, the Auror Department contacted me this morning."

Remus nodded, motioning for him to go on.

"And they know about your lycanthropy." Dumbledore finished.

Nobody said anything for a while. Nobody even dared to breathe too loudly.

"H-how?" Remus finally managed to choke out, after the painful minutes of silence.

"They have a chart of all the attacks that have happened. They know all about Fenrir Greyback; they've captured him before. He was forced to tell them all the people he's attacked and changed. He escaped from them afterwards." Dumbledore's wrinkled face cringed. "I am so terribly sorry." He hung his head, as if this were his entire fault.

Again, there was an achingly painful silence.

"B-but that's not a problem is it Professor?" Jane said suddenly, begging the Headmaster to agree, and say it was no problem at all.

Dumbledore could not meet their eyes as he replied. "It is. Remus will have a very hard time finding a job."

"D-does_ everyone_ kn-know?" Remus managed to whisper.

"No." Dumbledore said firmly. "The Ministry of Magic is sworn to secrecy. Only a few people there know, but they are unfortunately in charge of a lot of the employment that goes on there. They are also, unfortunately, very _ignorant_," Dumbledore growled. "close-minded, tiny, cowardly people." His expression was livid, and his tone scared Remus and Jane.

"I-it's okay sir." Remus said, feeling more like the Professor than the student at this moment.

"It's _not_ okay Remus." Dumbledore said, refusing to raise his voice, but he might have well done so; his voice was strong and furious. "I can only pray that in some years things will have changed. Until then, I want you to know you will always have a permanent spot at Hogwarts. Teaching, working anywhere you'd like in my school. You will always—I repeat, always—be welcome at Hogwarts. Hogwarts is your home."

Remus stared into those crystal-blue eyes that looked so terrified and so furious at the same time for him, and he could almost cry. This man, this loving, caring man had offered him something no one else would. "Sir, I-I can't. I don't have what it takes to be a teacher. Not now anyways, and I won't force myself on you. I'm s-sure I c-can find a job somewhere." He stuttered, not even believing himself. "Someday."

He heard a sniff and turned to see Jane, tears running down her face.

"Ja-?" He started before she cut him off by a sob.

"I-It's j-j-just n-not _fair!_" She cried, sobbing into her hands. "You don't deserve this!"

"Jane, c'mere." Remus said, calm as ever. It was bizarre: Dumbledore was angry and Jane was sad, but he felt almost no emotion whatsoever. Jane got up and walked over to him. He held out his arms and she sat down in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and held him close to her, rubbing her arms comfortingly. She cried into his shoulder.

"I'll find a job." Remus told her. "I'll be okay, don't worry about me. I don't have to work for the Ministry. There are plenty of other jobs out there that won't know what I am." He said. "Not until they notice I miss work every full moon anyway." He muttered.

"B-but, y-your dream j-j-job." Jane blubbered, wiping her eyes.

Remus looked down. "I g-guess I can never be an Auror."

Jane wailed into his shoulder quietly, clutching him as if he were a big teddy bear. He didn't say anything, just continued embracing her.

They stayed like that for a long time, simply staring at different spots on the walls, or the carpet. Nobody had anything to say.

"I will work until the ends of my abilities to help you get a job Remus." Dumbledore promised him.

Remus gave him a thankful look, but didn't smile. He couldn't right now. "Thank you." He whispered.

Dumbledore nodded, and began shifting a few papers on his desk. Remus decided it was time to leave.

"Thanks a lot, Professor Dumbledore." He helped Jane up, and stood up. He walked to the door, Jane right behind him, and he turned around once more.

Dumbledore looked up at him through his half-moon spectacles, and he looked younger and more innocent than Remus had ever seen him. His eyes looked almost watery, and Remus had to look away so as not to start crying himself.

"Thanks." He croaked once more, before shutting the door behind him and deciding to walk back to the common room. He didn't really feel like going to classes now anyway.

"You go to class." He told Jane, stopping just outside their Charms classroom, where inside there sat their friends and fellow Gryffindors.

She bit her lip and shook her head stubbornly. "No." She whimpered.

"I'll see you after." He said, giving her one last hug. He could feel her tears soaking through his shirt but didn't mind in the slightest. He pulled back and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Don't cry for me. I'll be fine." He told her, kissing the area right beside her mouth. He turned around and started walking back, hearing her sniffs from behind him. He turned the corner and looked back to see her wiping her eyes and opening the door to their classroom, head hung.

He continued to the common room, stopping right outside the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Password?" She grunted.

"Kappas." Remus said. He was suddenly extremely tired, and was hoping he would not see anyone in the common room that might want to talk. He just wanted to be alone right now.

He entered the common room and walked straight up the stairs, not making eye-contact with any of the fifth or sixth years that had free period right now.

He shut his door behind him, changed into pajamas, and went to bed. He couldn't sleep though. He wasn't tired as in _sleepy_ tired. He was tired as in _exhausted_ tired. Exhausted from everything. Exhausted from himself.

Jane was right after all; he didn't deserve this. Nobody did.

* * *

**AN: I really hope you all liked this chapter, and please review! I'd love to hear what you all thought about it!**

**Thanks again for reading and I'll see you next chapter!**

**-Taylor :)**


	4. Letters On A Sunday

**AN: WOW thanks for all the reviews guys! You're all being so supportive and I just love reading them all! Now onto the story!**

* * *

"I'm going to the owlery. Care to join me?"

Lily nodded, not looking up from her book. "Love to. Just let me finish this sentence..." She slammed the Transfiguration textbook loudly and threw it on the bed. She bounded from the bed and took his hand. "Whom are you writing to?"

"Mum and Dad. They're angry with me because I haven't been writing them enough."

Lily frowned. "Well, when was the last time you wrote to them since we got back from your house?"

James paused to rub the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Er, I haven't since we got back."

Lily smacked him on the chest lightly. "Well no wonder! It's been nearly a month now since we've seen them!"

"Yeah well, we've been busy!" James exclaimed. Lily shook her head.

"I've found time to write to my parents James. I know with NEWTs coming up, it must be _so_ hard for you..." She teased.

He grabbed for her waist with a threatening look on his face and she giggled, running away from him.

He chased after her down the hallways. Lily kept looking back to see how close he was. He was gaining on her...

"_Hey!"_ A voice yelled. She turned to look where she was going but it was too late. She felt a body crash against hers and was sprawled on the ground before she knew it. Aching everywhere, she raised her head to apologize to whomever she had hit.

"Merlin, I'm really so-"

"Save it." A voice cut across hers sharply. She was confused by the tone, and sat up, ignoring her head spinning.

"Severus?" She asked, surprised to see the lanky, stringy-haired Slytherin boy she had grown up with.

"Well it certainly isn't the Minister of Magic himself." She heard him mutter sardonically. She saw a dark figure step in front of Severus and she gasped as she saw James raise his wand menacingly.

"James, don't!" She cried.

James let his arm drop to his side and she thought she heard him mutter something to Severus, who hissed something back in response. She got up and saw that Severus' things were sprawled all over the floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Seve-" She started, bending down to pick up his things for him.

"I _said_, save it." Severus spat, almost urgently, reaching down to swat her hands out of the way. She straightened up robotically, watching him grumbling as he picked up his things quickly.

"Well, there was no need to be so _rude_." She said, crossing her arms over her chest and huffing.

"There was also no need to run around the halls while there are people trying to get some work done, but _you_ did that didn't you?" She heard him mutter.

James moved beside her but she stopped him with a gentle hand to his chest.

"Speak up Severus. I can't hear you when you talk to your shoes."

"Maybe I don't want you to hear." He muttered again, taking his books in his hands and standing up, readying himself to leave.

"Well then _maybe_," She stopped him by putting a hand to his chest firmly. Nothing like the gentle touch she had used with James seconds earlier. "You shouldn't say anything at _all_."

Severus stared at her for a second, then walked past her, edging past her hand. She narrowed her eyes at his retreating figure.

"Coward." She growled, watching him turn the corner and disappear from sight.

"Forget about him." James said consolingly, rubbing her shoulders. She melted at his touch, turning around to peck him on the lips.

"I'm so lucky to have you." She told him. "He just..." She felt herself tense up. "Riles me up so much! And I wish I didn't rise, but I always do. Every time! He used to be he person that made me the happiest, and now he makes me the angriest!"

James chuckled. "Is 'angriest' even a word?"

"Hm?" Lily said distractedly, still looking at the corner where Severus had left. "Oh, yes. I believe so."

"Angriest." James repeated. "Huh. Funny word, isn't it?"

"Yeah, sure James." Lily said, still distracted by something. "Hey, wait. What time is it?"

James gazed down at his watch curiously. "8:04. Why?"

"Who studies at 8:04 on a Sunday morning?" She asked him. James shrugged him shoulders.

"You were studying this morning."

"Yes, well that's because you woke me up and I had nothing else to do." She said. James chuckled, but Lily didn't smile. Something was definitely off about this whole thing. "Wait a second... he didn't say he _was _studying did he?"

James racked him brain confusedly. "Lily... I don't understand what you're trying to say."

"He didn't." She said confidently, suddenly remembering every second of the conversation they had just had. "He said he was trying to 'get some work done'. What do you suppose he meant by that?"

"He probably meant he was trying to get some work done. You're blowing this out of proportion." James told her calmly.

"No, I'm not." She said firmly. "And did you see how quickly he picked up his things? And how he swatted me out of the way as I got close to them? What if he's working for..." She gulped. "You-Know-Who?" She started pacing without meaning to. James was still watching her warily.

"Lil..." James warned.

"And what about how he said 'I don't want you to hear'? Maybe he meant something by _that _too?" She was speaking to no one in particular now. James just sighed irritably.

"Lil. Stop." He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look him in the eyes. "Now, take a breather, and think about this logically. He hates you." She winced, and he sighed again. "I'm sorry, but it's the truth. Of course he wants nothing to do with you. He would have done the exact same thing to myself or Sirius any day. It's not unusual in any way, and it certainly does not mean he's working for _Him_."

"I'm sorry." She sighed. She knew James was right, but couldn't help noticing how close-minded he was being about this whole thing. It was definitely curious, and she wouldn't let this go, but she wasn't going to admit that to _James_ anytime soon. "I guess I'm just over thinking it."

He smiled at her and took her hand, leading her away to the owlery. She felt bad for lying to him, but honestly, he thought one thing and she thought another. It wasn't going to hurt anyone if she continued to think about this, after all!

"Well, I brought a quill and parchment. I'll just be a second." James told her, as they stepped into the owlery.

Lily had a sudden idea. Trying to be as nonchalant as possible, she said, "Mind if I add something in the end of your letter?"

James smiled as he began writing on one of the tables. "Sure thing. You just want to say hi, I guess?"

"Yeah, pretty much. And thanks. You know, for having me at your house everything."

James nodded to his paper as Lily began to think about what she wanted to say to Charlus. She knew from him that he was retired from his job as an auror that worked for the Ministry. He told her he still got mail all the time with problems they needed him for though. He didn't say it of course, but Lily could tell he was a very powerful man in the Ministry.

Lily waited quietly whilst James scribbled furiously on his parchment, glasses falling down to his nose occasionally. He would push them back up and lick his lips, then get back to writing.

"Finished." He said proudly, clutching his cramped hand. "Go 'head. Send it off when you're done too."

Lily smiled. That couldn't have worked out more perfectly.

"Sounds good James." She said, making her way over to the table at which he sat. James got up and walked over to his owl, Fiona, who nipped at his fingers playfully.

Lily took a deep breath, and began to write.

_Dear Charlus,_

_It's Lily. I miss you a lot, and wanted to say thank you for having me in your home for the break, but I have a more important issue on my hands that needs your full attention. I want you to tell me in all honesty whether or not you think I am over-exaggerating all this, because with the rise of You-Know-Who, well, I'm just not sure anymore. I know this is going to sound crazy, but what if You-Know-Who has people reporting to him from inside Hogwarts? After all, everyone knows he's most afraid of Dumbledore. What if he's trying to get to him from inside Dumbledore's own school? I was thinking this because I've seen Slytherin boys use dark magic before. Spells they have most definitely not learned from Hogwarts. And I wonder just whom exactly have they learned this from? You don't suppose that maybe... they could be His helpers? _

_Please don't call me mad; I know it's farfetched but just what if? I recently just saw a boy I thought I knew years ago. He looked... unhealthy. Scared, and almost a little crazy. He's never really been that great of a sight, but he's even worse now, and it bothers me, although I know it shouldn't. After all... he hates me now. We used to be so close, and now we never talk. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be talking about this, I'm sure you have bigger, more important problems to report to. Just let me know if it's a possibility. I'll look more into it, if you need more proof. I realize I haven't many, but you've got to trust me Charlus. Something's not right. _

_Sorry about this, and I hope you and Dorea are doing well. Thank you for your time,_

_Lily._

She sighed and put down the pen, hand cramping.

"Ready to send it?" James called, making her jump. He chuckled. "Skittish, aren't we?"

She laughed uneasily. "Yeah. I'll just seal this up then and-"

"No wait let me read it." He said, walking over.

"No!" She said, a little too forcefully. James stopped and stared at her.

"Er, something wrong?" He asked carefully after the painfully long silence.

"No, I just..." She took a deep breath. "It doesn't need to be read. I'll just seal it and give it to Fiona and send it away."

"Okay..."

Lily licked the envelope and handed it to Fiona, who hooted happily. Lily ruffled her feathers and gave her a small push. Fiona flew out the wide, open window and soared into the bright sky. Lily watched her as she flew out of sight, disappearing into a tiny black dot in the sky. She turned around to face James, who was watching her cautiously.

"What?" She asked self-consciously.

"Er- it's nothing. You've just been staring after Fiona for the past five minutes is all."

"Is that an exaggeration?"

"Not at all." He said slowly. She tried to smile, though it probably came out as more of a grimace.

"It's nothing." She told him.

James snorted crossly. "Yeah, right. It's_ Snape_ isn't it?" He accused her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"And so what if it is?" She snapped at him angrily.

"_And so_, I told you to stop thinking about him!" He snapped back loudly. Lily shut the door to the owlery, and put a silencing charm on the door, turning back to James, hands on her hips.

"Why though? What if he _is_ doing something for You-Know-Who?" She demanded. "What if we go to Dumbledore with this?"

"Then we'd be wasting his time! Do you honestly think he'll trust us with the information that we have?" James switched to a high falsetto. "'Oh yes Professor Dumbledore sir, Snape ran into me, dropped his things, snapped at me, and walked away. So I think he's a _Death Eater_.'"

"I never said he was a _Death Eater_!" Lily screamed.

"Then _what?_ What exactly do you think he is?" James boomed.

Lily stood silently, glaring at him. "I don't _know_ what he is. But don't you think this is just a little bit suspicious?"

"No, frankly, I do not. You want to know what I think?" He asked.

"I'm all ears." She told him mockingly, leaning back against the wall.

"I think you're just angry because you're not used to him ignoring you! Last time you spoke to him, he was on his knees, begging you to take him back as a friend! I think you're just angry because you want to be desired by him! After all these years of him chasing after you, the first sign that he ignores you must mean something completely mad! _What if,_ Lily, he just no longer wants any part of you?"

Lily was taken aback by his words. James panted, out of breath from his speech, then looked at her carefully.

"Sorry." He said. "I just-"

"Yeah." She said, cutting him off. "Doesn't matter. I think I'll just go down to the library now. If you don't mind," She added, as he nodded and walked over to her. "_Alone._"

He swallowed and rubbed a hand against the back of him neck. "C'mon Lil, I said-"

"I heard what you said. Including the accusations. I just want to be alone, okay?"

James sighed and stared out the window, saying nothing. She left him in there, alone, and made her way down to the school library, alone, on this beautiful Sunday morning at Hogwarts.

So far the first day of February was not turning out too well.

* * *

**AN: So yes in case it was not obvious it is now the first day of February. I have decided to do about 4 or 5 chapters for every month, meaning this fanfiction in total will be finished at about 24-30 chapters. We'll see though, it's not a for sure plan yet.  
And so I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I really hope you review it! Please please review! I can't post the next chapter until I know what people thought about this one! Give me any constructive criticism and I'll take it all in stride!  
So I think that's all I wanted to say today, until next chapter my dear readers!**

**-Taylor :)**


	5. Potions On A Sunday

**AN: Just a quick thanks to all of you who reviewed the last chapter! Love you all with all my heart :)**

* * *

Lily entered the library and made a beeline for her favourite table. She always sat at this table with her friends. This was the table she and James had sat in on their second date.

She sighed angrily, crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn't angry because she wanted Severus to chase after her! Sure, it stung that he was being so flat out rude to her, but what else should she expect from a Slytherin? They were always rude to Gryffindors.

So why was this such a shock?

What if James was right? What if she really _was_ only suspicious because it was the first time Severus had ever really snubbed her? They had ignored each other most of the time, sure, but if they were forced to sit together during classes, they would say the awkward 'hello', then busy themselves doing other things. But he had never been downright rude to her!

But what he been holding? Books it seemed, but there was more than that. She hadn't seen clearly, fazed by how nasty he was being. Getting up from her seat, she hardly knew what she was doing before she had a book in her hands that she did not remember picking up.

_Hogwarts: A History._

She brought the book back to her table, noticing that the library was still quite empty. She had read already the first couple of chapters, but could never go any further. She flipped to the page that she had left off on, and started to flip through the old and tired pages aimlessly.

_You cannot Apparate or Disapparate inside of Hogwarts. _

She already knew this. But a thought struck her: If you couldn't apparate or disapparate inside of Hogwarts, how would Snape and his friends be communicating with You-Know-Who?

She thought. She really thought about it, but couldn't come up with any answers. And so she walked over to Madam Pince, the librarian for some answers.

"Excuse me, do you have any books on ways to get in and out of Hogwarts without anyone knowing?" Lily asked.

Madam Pince eyed her suspiciously and it was only then that Lily realized her words sounded pretty suspect.

"I-I mean, you know, f-for a project." She said lamely. Madam Pince continued staring at her, apparently trying to see if she was lying or not. Lily sighed impatiently and went back to her seat. She didn't have time for this. She needed to go directly to the source of the problem.

And so she did.

* * *

"Hey Mar, have you seen Severus?" Lily asked her friend at breakfast that morning.

Marlene looked at her questionably. "Snape?"

"The one and only." Lily muttered dryly.

Marlene shook her head, yawning. "Although," She quipped as Lily turned away. "I think he usually heads down to the Potions classroom on weekends to study. I've seen him there before when I was getting things from Slughorn." She said.

Lily nodded, thanked Marlene, and walked down to the Potions dungeon. The walk seemed much longer than usual, and as she got closer and closer to her final destination, she found herself regretting coming in the first place.

She kept on walking anyways. Until she stood just in front of the Potions dungeon doors that is, and she simply stared at it. Then she swung open the heavy doors, heard her loud footsteps echo in the dark room, and saw him. His back to her, he was curled over a large cauldron, nursing a potion with blue steam blowing from the top of it. He turned at the sound of her footsteps, and it was in that exact moment that she realized she was completely and utterly mad.

What in the bloody hell had she been thinking?

James was right. James was absolutely right. She didn't have a legitimate reason for accusing Severus of anything other than studying on a weekend morning. Even now as he was making potions on a Sunday morning alone in the dungeon, this was not a big thing to fuss over. Severus was not a people-person. He usually studied—or did anything, really—alone.

Squinting his eyes as if not believing that it was really she, he said: "Lily?"

She, realizing the look on her face was similar to one of a deer in headlights, straightened up and wrung her hands, suddenly nervous and ashamed of herself.

"Er, hi." She managed to say. So far so good, she hadn't made too much of a fool out of herself. Well, unless you count the fact that she had stormed into the dungeon and stopped in her tracks as soon as she had seen him. That had to look a tiny bit foolish.

Severus turned back to his cauldron quickly, stirring it a couple of times. "Sorry." He mumbled. "Now's not really a good time."

She made for the door, ready to leave. Honestly, what did she care what Severus said about her to his Slytherin friends? That she was completely mad? Big deal. She took a couple steps to the door, grabbed the doorknob, then froze.

Without planning to, without thinking at all, she marched over to where he stood. His cauldron propped on one of the desks closest to Slughorn's, he turned as he heard her footsteps close to him.

As she stood beside him, he flinched as if she were going to hit him.

"What are you doing?" She asked calmly.

"Why do you care." He said shortly, running a finger across his textbook page, then frowning. He took a quill from his back pocket and scratched out something the book said, writing his own notes beside it.

"You know, I'm not sure they really want us to do that." She told him, unable to stop herself.

"Teachers always tell us to write notes." He responded, almost robotically. Like he had practiced it before, and used it before on people who've told him the exact same thing.

"On parchment. Not on the textbooks." She corrected him.

"I bought it." He said, still adding ingredients to his potion. It suddenly occurred to her that, had it been someone else working on a potion, they would've messed up by now. It was hard to talk while doing something as complicated as a potion, especially this one, by the looks of it.

"What are you making anyways?" She asked, trying to be polite.

"Why do you care." He repeated, still not looking up to meet her eyes. His black, greasy hair was hanging in his eyes as he turned from textbook to cauldron, occasionally crossing out things and writing notes in his textbook.

She pulled up a chair and sat down in it. She didn't sit close to him—she wasn't that stupid. She simply sat at the desk beside his, staring at him. Eventually, he gave in and looked to her.

"What do you want?" He asked in a tired voice.

She looked down at her hands, twisting them in each other. She brought her hand up to her mouth and bit the skin around her nail, still not meeting his eyes.

He sighed and turned to back to his potion. Then he let out a loud curse, throwing his hands up in the air and groaning. She jumped, startled, and watched him curiously as he ran to the potions cupboard and came back, hands full with new ingredients.

She recognized all of what he had grabbed, and agreed. She as well knew what this potion needed. She could smell it from here. He grabbed the ingredient she wasn't looking at though.

"Er, you sure?" She said, wishing he second after that she hadn't said anything at all.

He looked at her, sweat dripping down his brow. "What?" He asked distractedly.

"Well, I mean, smell it. You don't think it needs to cool down? By adding those Klypuon leaves you're just going to heat it up even more and-"

He snapped his fingers and grabbed the tube of newt blood. She smiled to herself. That was what she had been referring to.

He put it in slowly, sniffing it carefully. He examined the colour, then scratched furiously with his quill on his textbook. He stirred it twice counter-clockwise, then nodded to himself, writing this down as well. Lily was fascinated. She loved watching people make potions, especially their own. This had started out as one from the book, she presumed, but he had changed it into his own.

"What does it do?" She asked, voice barely above a whisper. The blue steam from his potion had turned to a pinkish-red, and it was spitting out tiny flames every so often.

Severus, suddenly aware of the fact that she was Lily Evans, frowned again.

"Why are you here, anyways?" He sighed impatiently, all the good humour from earlier gone. Lily had thought that maybe the bond of potions was starting to build the bridge over the troubled waters between them. Apparently not.

"What were you doing this morning?" She blurted out, not seeing any other way of asking.

"Why are you suddenly curious?" He asked, turning his back on her once more to write something new in his textbook.

"I'm not. I mean, what were you holding in your hands?" She asked.

His back still to her, she couldn't see his face. She didn't miss the way his back stiffened though, and his quill suddenly stopped scratching against the paper. Silence fell over the room.

He started scratching again, as though nothing had happened. "Books." He muttered.

"What kind of books?" She demanded.

"Look, it's really none of you buisn—"

"So they're not just regular books then." She said loudly. He turned around quickly, staring at her. She stopped breathing as his eyes assessed her.

Another silence fell, and the air was so thick from the steam and flames that it was getting harder to breathe normally. She breathed in gulps and the crackles of the flames started getting louder and louder.

"I said," She began haughtily.

"I heard what you said, alright?" Severus snapped, face getting closer to hers. "And I really think that although you seem to have control over everyone else in the school, what I do no longer concerns you. _In the least_." He spat, breathing heavily onto her face. His breath did not smell good, and her mind flitted randomly to the smell of James' breath on her face. The cool cinnamon scent of his favourite gum, the minty toothpaste he used...

She cringed away from him as he rolled his eyes. She scoffed, and through the fog could no longer make out the door of the classroom.

"I think you'll find that it does, Severus. I'm Head Girl, you see." She said smugly.

"I know that." He said calmly. So calmly in fact, his tone scared her. Shivers went down her spine as he bent down to make his face level with hers. "But what if I don't give a damn about Hogwarts? What if I am dying to leave, but can't until we graduate? What then? Then you'd just be doing me a favour by getting me in trouble, wouldn't you Head Girl?"

"W-why can't you leave?" She squeaked, his eyes boring into her own, looking for something there.

"Because of Professor Dumbledore, if you must know." He said, breaking eye-contact and turning around quickly to stir his potion again.

"Well he must have a reason." She pressed.

"What is your angle _anyway,_ Evans?" He spat, whipping his stir stick onto the table with a deafening _whack!_

"'_Evans?'"_ She repeated through gritted teeth, seeing red. She wasn't sure if it was because she was angry or the flames or both, but right now, she was furious. "Why do you want to leave so badly _hmm, Severus?_ Hogwarts is too easy for you? You're smarter than the rest of us, is that it, then?" She demanded, tone rising. She stood up from her chair and realized that she couldn't see anything in the room other than Severus, his cauldron and the table at which they both stood beside. "_Or maybe,_ you think you're just _better_ than the rest of-"

"Just _shut up!_ _Shut up alright?"_ He boomed, pushing the cauldron aside. The potion flew from the cauldron mid-air, and splashed all over the dungeon floors.

She backed away, staring at him with wide eyes. "What is your _problem? _Learn to control your temper or I'll-"

"Or you'll _what?_" He shrieked. "You'll go to Dumbledore? You'll go to that old coot and tell him _what?_" He demanded. "Tell him that I've been bad and he should expel me? Fine by me, Evans! I don't give a _damn_ about Hogwarts, or Dumbledore, or _you_!" He roared.

"I don't care if _you_ give a damn about me!" She said, chuckling madly, to hurt him more than anything else. It had the affect she wanted. He looked hurt for a second, then pushed it away with a sneer.

"You're nothing but a filthy little mudblood and you always will be. Get over yourself." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Don't you _dare!_" She screamed, clear green eyes blazing with fury. "You're telling me to get over _mysel_f? I, who's done nothing wrong! I've been a good student and guess what? That's why I'm Head Girl, and James is Head Boy! Yeah, I know you want to be where James is! Who wouldn't? Head Boy, Quidditch Captain, Outstandings in all the classes you can't master-!"

"SHUT YOUR SOILED MOUTH, MUDBLOOD! POTTER IS NOTHING. _NOTHING_ COMPARED TO WHAT I WILL BE. _YOU WATCH!_" Severus cried out, pushing the desk. Lily could hardly even see Severus now, and with widened eyes, she realized that at any moment, Severus could hurt her. He could hurt her badly, and nobody would know. Nobody comes down to the dungeons on the weekends, especially not the weekend mornings. "YOU WATCH!" He repeated, coming closer to her. She felt for her wand and was relieved to feel that it was in her back pocket. She rested a hand on it, ready for anything. "I AM _BETTER_ THAN JAMES POTTER. HE IS NOTHING BUT AN ARROGANT SWINE WHO NEEDS TO LEARN THAT ONE DAY, SOMEONE WILL BE BIGGER _AND_ BETTER THAN HIM! HE'S A BIG TALKER LILY, BUT WHAT WILL HE DO OUT IN THE REAL WORLD? GET _KILLED! _AND _THEN_ WHO WILL PROTECT YOU?" He roared, panting. He kicked the table that was already knocked on the floor and grunted. He looked at her, caught his breath, and stared at the potion that was all over the floor, bubbling wildly. They both panted, staring at each other with nothing but utter loathing. "Get out." He spat suddenly.

Well, she didn't need telling twice. But unable to resist defending him, she stopped before the fog blocked him from her view, and turned around to face him defiantly. "James is twice,_ three_ times the man you'll _ever_ be." She said. That hit him hard, and she saw it. She tried to grin, but she didn't feel victorious after saying it. She just felt lousy, and worse than ever before.

With a departing sneer, she ran out of the dungeons and into the clean, clear air of the first floor. She ran to the nearest girl's washroom and looked in the mirror at her reflection. Her entire body was tinged pink, and her eyes looked livid, ready to kill. She blinked long and hard, shaking her head.

What had she been thinking? He was going to murder her! She was lucky she got out alive! Without all the fog and red, it was easier to think clearly, but in the heat of the moment, she wasn't thinking at all. She had just been saying whatever came to her mind first!

And to think she used to call herself rational. She was just as irrational as Severus, possibly worse! She needed to see James, now. He would know what to do.

She walked out of the washroom to see none other than James Potter himself, leaning casually against the wall. When he saw her, he ran to her, taking her hands in his.

"Look, I'm so sorry for earlier this morning." He started desperately, nothing but pure apology in his eyes.

"Don't be. You're right, you are completely right. I don't want to think about any part of Severus for the rest of my life." She said, enveloping him in a deep hug. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, knowing something huge had happened to her.

"What happened?" He asked, on full alert. He noticed she was stained pink, a colour that did not suit her well. Now wasn't the time for jokes though, and he sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. She sat next to him and told him the full story. They sat in silence afterwards for what felt like a lifetime.

"I can't believe you'd be so stupid." James said finally.

"I know." She sighed.

"And so senseless! What were you thinking, he could've gone crazy and hurt you!" James choked, taking her head in his hands.

"I know, Dad!" Lily joked, trying to lighten the mood. James rolled his eyes and hugged her tightly.

"What am I going to do with you?" He sighed into her hair.

"You're going to love me forever and ever." She told him.

He smiled. "Can do."

She twisted around to kiss him, and he kissed her back gently, pulling away after just a few seconds.

"You know we're going to keep talking about this, right?" James asked, hand on her chin. "This isn't just something that we can never speak about again."

"Whatever you like." She sighed. He smiled and kissed her forehead, and together, they walked to their room, holding hands, and sharing their thoughts.

As Lily sat down on her bed, she decided that the first thing she needed was a shower. James chuckled.

"Good idea. You look—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence James Potter." She warned him jokingly, walking into their enormous bathroom that they got with their Head Boy and Girl room. "Be right back." She said.

"'Kay." James called back, lying on his bed.

Not shortly after, there was a knock on the door. "It's me!" Sirius yelled.

"Let him in!" James called to the statue that guarded his and Lily's room. Sirius stepped into their room, fully clad in pajamas.

"Padfoot, it's nearly eleven. What are you still doing in pj's?" James asked his best friend incredulously.

"I have an amazing idea." Sirius said confidently, sitting on the foot of James' bed, ignoring his best friend's question.

"Shoot." James told him, eyes dancing. A new prank? He certainly hoped so.

"Not a prank." Sirius said, seeing his best friend's eyes light up. James frowned. "But rest assured, equally as good. How does a game of good ol' fashioned Truth or Dare sound?"

"_Truth or Dare?_" James quoted, laughing. "I dunno... last time we played things didn't end too well..."

"Trust me." Sirius told him. "I have a feeling _this_ game will be _legendary_."

* * *

******AN: Yeah, 'Legendary' is totally from How I Met Your Mother. If you watch the show tell me if you agree with this: Sirius is such a Barney in my mind, you know? I've always thought that! :P**

****** Again, thanks for all the reviews! Sorry it's been taking me longer than usual to post chapters, but since it's May and almost the end of the school year, teachers are cramming in all the projects and tests that they need/want. So yeah, May is definitely a fun time :/  
But your reviews keep me motivated to write, so please please review! **

******-Taylor :)**


	6. Truth Or Dare

**AN: Wow. So I was actually dying to write this chapter, and so here it is. Earlier than most of you expected, I'm sure :) Thanks for those who reviewed the last chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Right," Sirius began, rubbing his hands together with an evil glint in his eyes that James did not like. "We'll need Moony, Jane, Lily and er..." He trailed off awkwardly.

"Marlene?" James asked.

"If she wants, I guess. I haven't seen much of her recently though. Have you?"

"Nah," James shook his head. "She's always with McKinnon and his friends."

Sirius' eyebrows pulled together, as if thinking hard. "Well, why don't we just invite them, then?"

"'_McKinnon and his friends?_'" James sat up from his bed, staring at his best friend incredulously. "What for?"

"Maybe it'll be fun to play with some new people." Sirius said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Mmhmm..." James said sarcastically. "You sure it's not just because you want Marlene to be there?" He wagged his eyebrows.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Either way, you're inviting them."

"I beg your pardon?" James asked.

"C'mon. Surely _I_ can't ask them. _Waaay_ to awkward." Sirius said dramatically.

"Well it was your idea chap, so I think you _will_ be inviting them actually." James said, crossing his arms over his chest and raising his eyebrows at his best friend. Sirius paled and James chuckled. "I almost feel bad for you, d'you know that?"

"Well then ask them if you feel so bloody bad!" Sirius exclaimed.

James chuckled again. "I don't feel _that_ bad. Padfoot, I don't even _know_ them."

"And I do?" Sirius asked.

"No. Meaning we're back to who wanted to invite them in the first place. Which would be..." James pretended to think very hard. "Hmm. I just can't remember. Do you?"

"Belt it." Sirius barked. "I'll ask them then. But you're coming."

"Whatever you say." James laughed, jumping off his bed and joining Sirius at the door, only to remember Lily was still in the shower. "Wait, just a mo'."

He ran to his desk and whipped out a quill and parchment, scribbling on it quickly.

"Okay." He said once he was finished. "Let's go."

* * *

"Hey guys." Sirius said to the group of Gryffindors huddled in a circle in the common room. They looked up curiously.

"Hey Sirius." Shawn McKinnon said brightly, smiling. "What's up?"

"Well, my friends and I were just about to start a game of Truth or Dare, and we need a few more members. Would you lot like to play?" He asked, looking from Shawn to Marlene. When he met her eyes, she raised an eyebrow at him curiously, smiling. He smiled back, feeling his heart beat against his chest, hard.

Shawn looked to Marlene, who was sitting beside him. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders, as if to say '_why not?'. _Everyone else in the group politely declined, saying they had homework they needed to finish. And so Shawn got up from the floor, taking Marlene by the hand and helping her up. She squeezed his hand and followed Sirius and James over to the couches near the fireplace, where Jane and Remus sat, Remus' arm draped casually over Jane's shoulders.

Marlene went to sit beside Jane and Shawn sat beside her. James and Sirius took the large chairs, and then, silence.

"Er..." Marlene started, chuckling. "How 'bout that game of Truth or Dare?"

"Is Lily not invited?" Jane asked, worry washing over her face.

"She's in the shower. She'll probably be down soon." James replied, as Jane relaxed.

"So!" Sirius said, clapping his hands together loudly. "Who'd like to go first?"

Nobody volunteered.

"How about you Mr. This-game-will-be-legendary?" James suggested sarcastically.

"Sure thing Prongs." Sirius agreed cheerfully. "And it _will _be legendary."

"Just like our last game or Truth or Dare, right Sirius?" Marlene laughed. The five friends laughed together in reminisce as Shawn sat there smiling confusedly.

"What'd I miss?" A voice called. Lily stepped into their group rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Another game of Truth or Dare?" She added, sitting on the arm of Sirius' chair and ruffling his hair. "Because the last one turned out so well didn't it?"

"Okay, will everyone calm down about that other game?" Sirius said, throwing his hands into the air exasperatedly.

"_I_ thought our last game turned out wonderfully." James said. Lily smiled and went over to sit beside him. They were squished in the chair, but they didn't mind. He ran his hand over her right hand, feeling the engagement-turned-into-promise ring he'd given her after that game of Truth or Dare at his house over the Christmas break.

"Thank you for your input Prongs." Sirius said, fixing his hair and rolling his eyes at the pair of them. They grinned cheekily back, as Lily swung her legs over James' lap. He wrapped his arms around her. "Now, I'm going first. So... er, Moony." Sirius said.

Remus frowned. "Why me?"

"Because I chose you, _obviously."_ Sirius said.

"But _why_ did you choose me?"

"Because I felt like it. Don't argue!" Sirius shouted as Remus opened his mouth to retort back. Remus shut it with a smirk and looked to his best friend expectantly. "Right. Truth or dare?" Sirius asked.

"Dare." Remus answered.

"Okay..." Sirius thought for a moment. "Go tell Stacey Mulligan you're in love with her." Sirius said, nodding to the third year girl who sat by herself, absorbed in her book.

Jane laughed, obviously seeing no competition from this 13-year-old girl. She pushed Remus in the girl's direction. "Go on then!" She grinned.

"You'll pay for this." Remus told her. She laughed at him, crossing her legs up on the couch and watching him stalk away to where Stacey sat.

* * *

"Hi Stacey." He began. The girl held up on finger to silence him. He looked back at his friends, chuckling. They all laughed and shot him thumbs-ups. Stacey let her finger hang there until she finished the page, then looked up to him, frowning.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Er, there's really no other way to say this..." Remus started. He had to stop himself from grinning. If he was going to do this dare, he might as well do it thoroughly. "I've been in love with you ever since you were put into Gryffindor. I've been making up ways in my head to finally talk to you. I decided just to tell you now though. I love the way you silence me with your finger and then the way you frown impatiently at me. I'm in love with you, Stacey Mulligan."

Stacey had turned back to her book in the middle of his speech. He laughed and started to walk away, but heard his name be called again. He turned around and saw Stacey staring at him, wearing an exasperated smile. "Try to not include me in any more of your dares okay? This book is really good, and I'd appreciate not being interrupted again."

Remus couldn't contain his grin, and said, "Sure thing Stacey." He turned back to his friends, not saying a word to them until he sat down.

* * *

"What was that bit at the end that she said? I couldn't hear. By the way mate, nice job. I even believed you were in love with her myself." Sirius said.

"Well, if you must know," Remus started haughtily. "She told me she loves the way my hair messes up in the wind and how I'm rubbish at Potions. We've planned our wedding date, and you are all invited." He looked around the circle, stopping at Jane. "Except for you." He added. "I told you you'd pay for that."

The group burst out into howls of laughter, as everyone in the common room turned to stare at them. Remus saw Stacey get up from her seat and start for the girls staircase, rolling her eyes at their loudness impatiently.

"Sorry love!" Remus called.

"Buzz off, Lupin!" She called back.

The group howled again.

"I can see you two are madly in love!" Jane hooted.

"Well, that much was obvious wasn't it?" Remus asked, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend. She leaned back against his chest, still shaking from silent laughter.

"Right." Sirius said. "Cheers to Moony for that amazing dare. Go on then Moony, choose someone."

"I chose Lily." Remus said darkly, giving her an evil look. She raised her eyebrows at him. "Truth or dare?"

"Surprise me." She said.

"A rebel we have here..." Remus told the group. They chuckled in response. "I choose thee to have truth."

Lily shrugged. "Sure. Shoot."

"When did you start liking James?"

Lily paled, then her cheeks blazed. "I choose dare."

"NO!" the group yelled in unison, not letting her back out of this one now.

"How have we never asked this question?" Marlene wondered wickedly.

"Easy. She always changed the subject once we get to it. Not this time though." Jane said, putting her hands behind her head, waiting.

Lily chuckled uneasily as the group stared intently at her.

"Oh! We almost forgot!" Sirius exclaimed. He muttered the truth spell over them all. "That's better." He grinned mockingly.

James even was laughing darkly, unable to help himself. He'd had a crush on Lily Evans ever since First Year, as everyone knew. He had always been rather, er... _open_ with his feelings. Lily Evans though, well that was a different story completely.

"Yeah, c'mon Evans. When _did_ you start to like me?" He teased.

"Well, Potter." She started. "When you were being a big-headed jerk, never. But, before I knew you as a person, I may have thought you were _sort_ of cute, I suppose." She admitted. "For like, _two_ seconds okay? As soon as you and Sirius started bashing on Severus I stopped liking you!"

The tips of her hair started going purple. She gasped as the group laughed at pointed at it. "_Sirius!_" She yelled.

"Sorry, forgot to mention your hair turns purple if you lie. Better tell the truth quickly Evans, and fast. That purple will _spread_ and _stay_."

"Okay okay! I liked you even after that!" She put her head in her hands, covering her face. "I'm a terrible person. I had a crush on a bully."

James hugged her, laughing openly, but she did not hug him back. "Oh Evans, don't worry. Who could blame you after all? I _am_ irresistible aren't I?"

"Hey! I stopped liking you for _sure _by Second Year okay? It was only a crush because you were cute!"

"I still _am _cute. _And _fit. _And _extremely irresistible."

"And big-headed." Lily muttered.

"You love it." He smirked.

"Nah, I don't." She argued.

"Well, it's who I am, and you love me, so you love it!" He argued back.

"Yeah okay sure..." Lily smiled mockingly.

James mussed up her hair with his fist. "Hey!" She screamed, punching him playfully in the chest. They wrestled for a minute, the group eventually ignoring them both and talking among themselves until their friends stopped.

"Finished already?" Marlene asked sardonically. "Wow, you were only making us barf for _five minutes straight_. Sure you don't want to continue?"

"Don't tempt me Smith." James said, hugging Lily tightly around her waist. Lily stuck her tongue out at her best friend, leaning back into James' chest.

"Marlene." Lily chose. "Truth or—wait no!" Lily grinned at her best friend, who simply raised her eyebrows at Lily curiously. "I choose Shawn instead!"

Marlene squinted at Lily, who was still grinning at her. "Shawn. Truth or dare?"

"Truth I s'pose." He said, smiling and shrugging. He was practically always smiling. He was a very happy-minded person. Lily liked that in particular about him. She never really got to know him very well, but someone who was always happy was someone she wanted for her best friend's boyfriend.

"When did _you_ start liking _Marlene?_" She asked him.

He laughed. "I s'pose that'd have to be... Sixth year. When we were partners for Defense. She was really funny, and amazing at Dark Arts."

Marlene smiled at him. "So were you."

They stared at each other for awhile. James coughed loudly, but they didn't turn.

"Wow Marlene, you've only been making this whole group uncomfortable for about 20 seconds." James said sarcastically.

"It's a talent I have." She replied, still not breaking Shawn's gaze.

Eventually, they broke apart, Marlene cuddling into his side as his arm draped over her shoulders.

"Finished already?" James and Lily asked at the same time. They grinned at each other.

"Let's get on with the show." Sirius said, interrupting both couples.

"Sure thing." Shawn replied, grinning. "Okay, hm... well my friends and I sort of play differently than you all. We ask a question to the whole group, and everyone has to answer it honestly." He explained.

"Sounds cool." Jane said. Shawn smiled at her.

"And we also ask different questions then you all. So, if it's okay I'd like to ask a question to the whole group."

"Sure." Remus said.

"Alright well, stop me if you think this is a bad question, but it's a question I always like to ask to get to know people. I think it really shows a lot about a person."

"Just get on with it!" Sirius laughed jokingly.

Shawn laughed with him, then took a breath. "Okay. If you could choose, how would you like to die?"

The group fell silent.

"And... usually the person on the left of the asker goes first. That's you, Marlene." He looked to her expectantly.

"Oh Merlin, I don't know. Not really something you think about, is it?" She chuckled. "I guess... I'd like to die the same time as someone I love, say my husband—hoping that when I do die, I'm married by that time."

"Why on earth would you want to die with someone you love?" Sirius asked, eyes wide, obviously thinking Marlene had gone mad.

"Well, so I don't have to live a day without them. And they don't have to live a day without me." She shrugged. "And for something worthwhile too... like fighting You-Know-Who or something." She shrugged again, looking down. "It's sort of silly, isn't it?"

"I don't think so. Not at all." Shawn said. She smiled at him, taking his hand, looking to Sirius.

"It's your turn." She said.

"Oh. Right. Er..." He thought. "I like to think that I die fighting against You-Know-Who and his followers. You know, obviously I hope I never have to come to combat against Him, but if I _did_ and I _knew_ I was going to die, I'd like to save a couple people I love doing it. And take down as many of his followers as I can." He paused. "Yeah." He said.

"But what about those you love?" Marlene asked.

"I said I'd like to save them." He answered.

"But they'd miss you." She said.

"Well of course they would. But that's life isn't it? I think that if they were that close to me, they'd know not to get too down about it. I'd always be there, with them. In here." He said, pointing to his chest. Marlene smiled at him, and his breath caught in his throat. She was bloody beautiful. He smiled weakly back at her as she turned to James.

"My turn." James inhaled then exhaled loudly. "Wow. How do you even think about something like that? Death, I mean. Merlin... I think," He paused, thinking. "I think I'd like to die fighting Him, like Sirius and Marlene, but I think I'd also like to die in the place of someone I love. You know, sacrifice myself so they wouldn't have to die." He explained. "That seems like an okay way to die to me."

Lily, who sat on his left, turned and kissed him on the lips.

"I think I'd like to die like that too, you know. But for someone who had a lot to live for. I pray that I die at an old age, but when the time comes, I'd like to sacrifice myself for someone who has more life to live. Like my grandchild or something. I don't know." She blushed, looking down at her hands. "It's weird to think I'll even _have_ grandchildren. But if I do, that'd be nice. Because, they have their whole life in front of them, you know? And mine's pretty much over." She shuggeded, looking up. "That would seem to be the best way."

James turned to kiss her on the forehead. "I really love you, you know that?"

She smiled at him. "I love you too."

"I think I'd like to die, having finished my life. You know, gotten all my crap together." Jane grinned. "Because right now, I mean, we're just so young. I like to think that by the time I die, I've lived my life to the fullest. Crossed every single thing off my bucket-list. That'd be a good way to die." She smiled, looking to Remus. He smield at her.

"I think that'd be a nice way to die too. But," He started. "I'd want to die fighting in something that will change the world. For example, say that tomorrow the Wizarding World War begins." The group chuckled at this. "I know it's unlikely, but just imagine alright?" He grinned. "I'd like to die a legend. Someone who had to die_ in order_ for the war to end. Like a sacrifice, but not for just one person. For mankind. For a better world." He laughed. "Sort of dumb, isn't it?"

"Nah, it's not." Jane assured him, kissing him. He kissed her back, as the group rolled their eyes, but soon enough, all the couple were kissing.

"Okay. Thanks guys, I'll just snog this chair then. Yep, snogging this chair. Fun times... Okay, seriously stop snogging!" He yelled at his friends.

They all grinned at him, laughing. Sirius rolled his eyes, got up, and looked out the window.

"Wow, it's dark already. That day went by fast."

"It does sometimes when you wake up at eleven." James reminded him sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you." Sirius rolled his eyes, touching the cold window frame. "It is pretty, isn't it? The snow."

The others got up and joined him at the window, watching the light, February snow cover the grounds of Hogwarts.

"It_ is_ beautiful." Lily sighed.

"I know something else that's beautiful..." James told her.

"Oh yeah?" she asked. "What's that?"

"That painting over there!" He exclaimed. Lily laughed. "Only joking Lil. It's you of course."

"Could I get a more romantic boyfriend?" She wondered aloud.

"Nah, it's physically impossible. You'd be breaking all these rules of physics, and we really can't have that on your hands now can we?" He asked, and she chuckled. "Best just to keep me forever."

"I can do that." She smiled.

"Good."

* * *

**AN: Pleeaase tell me what you thought about this chapter. I, for one, _loved_ writing it, so hopefully you all loved reading it? Tell me!  
Seriously, every review is better than McDonalds. LOL. So if you review, I'll buy you and I some McDonalds and then we can eat it together and be happily fat Jily shippers together. :P  
All jokes aside, I sincerely hope you liked this chapter. Thanks for reading, and please review! Thanks!**

**-Taylor :)**


	7. Four Months Left

**AN: Big thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! That includes:  
QueenKittieKat, Nikki Ride, ForTheGloryOfSparta, macaroni-art, EyeBright, Orange-Coyote, pixies114, Sidno, and HarryPotter4Evar.**  
**Your feedback means so much to me & makes my day, so thank you, thank you! On with the story now? Enjoy :)**

* * *

"Well." James started, "It is now 6:30 and we still have not gone down to eat dinner. So, shall we?" He extended his arm for Lily to take, but she ran past him. "Hey! Where are you going?" He called after her desperately.

"I don't know!" She called back, running out of the common room. James looked at his friends who shrugged in response. James ran/walked out of the common room, and looked around. "Lily?" He called. No answer. "Oi, Lily!" He called, louder now. Still no answer came.

He decided to turn left, figuring she was just running down to the Great Hall. He kept on walking, looking right and left, occasionally calling her name out when...

"_BOO!_" She jumped out of nowhere.

James cursed loudly, whipping out his wand and jumping 5 feet in the air. Lily roared with laughter, leaning on the wall for support. James' heart beat madly in his chest, as he let out a relieved but exasperated sigh, sticking his wand back in his pocket.

"Don't _ever_ do that again." He scolded her.

"Sorry Mum." She said cheekily.

"I mean, here I am, searching the whole bloody school for you...!"

"'_Whole bloody school_' my arse. More like: you walked down a couple of corridors." She rolled her eyes.

"Alright. We'll see next time if you think I'm in trouble, how you react."

"Yeah. We'll see." She repeated, chuckling.

They walked in silence to the Great Hall. It wasn't akward in the least though. A comfortable silence.

"Can you believe we've only been dating six months?" She asked.

"Half a year." He answered, sighing. "Feels like longer doesn't it?"

"In some ways... But in other ways, it feels _too_ short. I don't want to leave Hogwarts, ever. Right now the teachers are stressing about NEWTs, and everyone seems to be forgetting—"

"That we're graduating in June." James finished painfully. "I know."

"What's going to happen to me? What's going to happen to us?" She wondered.

"We'll stay together." He put his arm around her waist.

She smiled. "You mean that?"

He frowned. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know. I just feel so confused all the sudden about my life. What am I without Hogwarts?"

"You're my girlfriend." He answered on cue. "And soon, hopefully, my fiancée."

"Well see, there's another thing." She said. "When will we get married? I want to, of course, but how? When? Where?" She fretted.

James chuckled. "I thought brides weren't supposed to get stressed until they actually started _planning _the wedding."

"Oh don't be silly James, a girl starts planning her wedding the second she knows what a wedding _is_."

James laughed. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of." He said. "Alright, what's your wedding day look like then?"

"I don't know, that's the problem!" She laughed. "But it involves a handsome man by the name of Potter, that's one thing I'm certain of."

"You know, I think I've heard of this 'Potter' guy before." He joked. "And we've got loads of time to figure it all out." He reassured her.

"But what if we don't James? We only have four months left of school for God's sake. We've got to stop thinking we've got so much time, when in reality, we don't. That's how people screw up, big time." She stopped walking, looking him in the eyes. "I don't want to be one of those people." She was on the verge of crying for some reason.

"Lil, calm down." James said calmly, sweeping her into a hug. "We've got _so_ much time. We're not going to die tomorrow after all." He chuckled, and she giggled into his chest. "And I'll always love you." He finished. "We've got all the time in the world."

"You mean it?" She said, arms wrapped tightly around him.

"Of course." He kissed the top of her head gently.

"Oh, and James?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, by the way."

* * *

"Okay, so who declared war against the goblins and in what year?"

"Remus Lupin in 1989." Jane replied tartly.

"Wow. Perfect answer Ms. Elizabeth." Remus said sarcastically.

"Thank you, I studied very hard." She play-bickered, sticking out her tongue at him.

"You _do_ know you're going to fail the NEWTs right?" Remus asked her.

"You're kind of a pessimist today, aren't you?" She teased him, reaching over to ruffle his already messy hair.

He tried and failed to swat her hand away, chuckling. "I prefer the word _realist._"

"You know what I think I am?" She asked him. He waited. "An _opportunistic_." She paused. "And I see an opportunity to spend this beautifully chilly day with my boyfriend." She took his chin in her hand and turned his head so he could look out the window with her. "You see that opportunity?" She pointed at the white flakes that fell ever so gently to cover the grounds of Hogwarts.

"Oh yeah." He laughed. "It's right beside the failed NEWT test."

She had to laugh at that. "Oh c'mon Remus. We've got _ages_ until June."

"Famous last words." He told her seriously. Her hand still holding his chin, she leaned forward and kissed him passionately. He was taken aback by this, but responded with just as much enthusiasm.

"What was that for?" He grinned as she pulled back.

She shrugged. "I just felt like it."

"Well by all means, feel like it more!" He said. They both grinned like little kids at each other, then Jane glanced out the window. She sighed dramatically.

"Alright, fine." Remus said suddenly, slamming his book shut. "But you'll have this on your conscience once I fail all my exams."

"Oh thank you Remus!" She cheered, throwing her arms around his neck. "You won't regret this!" She gasped suddenly. "We should have a snowball fight!"

He grinned. "With James, Lil, Peter and Sirius?"

"And Marlene if she wants to!" Jane smiled. "Let's go!"

* * *

The six friends joined outside, bundled up so as not to get cold. The snow had stopped falling, but it had covered the ground thickly. All around them were other students making snowmen, snowflakes, or just running around in the snow. They had chosen an area close to the Forbidden Forest, far away from anyone else, so their snowballs wouldn't hurt anyone else.

"Where's Wormtail?" Sirius asked. "Not _still_ sick is he?"

James nodded. "Poor guy. He's been down in the Hospital Wing since the beginning of February. Hopefully he gets better soon."

While they all talked, Marlene was forming a plan. Shawn was beginning to feel sick as well, so he had politely declined in taking part of their outdoor activity. I would only make him sicker, and Marlene didn't want to risk that.

"You go." He said, smiling. "Might as well have some fun."

She had kissed him on the forehead and had gone to join her friends. But now... she saw Sirius rubbing his hands together and couldn't resist. She slowly picked up a handful of snow and formed it into a perfect ball, walking to him quietly. His back to her, he didn't see her approaching, but _boy_ would he see her soon.

She bit her lip, trying to figure out how to do this the best way. An idea formed in her head and she grinned. Perfect.

"Guess who?" She whispered into his ear, covering his eyes with her one-gloved hand.

"Hey Mar." She could hear him smiling. "What's this all abou-OOOOH!" He cried as she shoved the snowball down his back. She covered her mouth so as not to burst out into laughter but couldn't help herself.

"Oh Merlin!" She laughed. He danced around, trying to shake the freezing cold snow from his back. She cringed as she watched him, almost feeling his cold. He dropped onto the ground and withered around like a worm. She turned from his to face her friends, who were all laughing as well.

As their eyes widened in horror and amusement, she realized what was coming next. A second too late, she realized, that is.

The scream that came from her mouth was not human as she felt the cold, cold, ice fall down her bare back. Her spine contorted and she saw from the corner of her eye Sirius rolling in the snow, laughing. She bent down, shivering, and picked up a snowball. She whipped it at him, hitting him right in the head. He stopped laughing immediately, then threw one back at her, only at her thigh. She laughed.

"Careful not to hurt me?" She teased throwing one back in his face.

"Girls are fragile." He called back, throwing one again near her legs. For some reason this comment surprised her, as she had never really realized how thoughtful Sirius was. Sure, he could be a thoughtless jerk every now and then, but for the most part, he was observant of his surroundings and was careful to treat people the way they should be treated. She was sure if that she were James right now he would've whipped one right back in her face. She grinned at him, and he grinned right back, grey-blue eyes twinkling.

And soon there were snowballs everywhere. Lily and James had teamed up against Remus and Jane, and over a silent agreement, Sirius and Marlene had soon turned into a team. The three pairs battled against each other for what seemed like minutes, but soon enough, the sun was setting, and they were all out of breath, and soaked through and through.

"H-how about a time-out?" Jane asked, breathless.

They all agreed, and went to sit by their tree. As they watched the sun set over the Black Lake, Sirius turned to see James and Lily kissing. He rolled his eyes at them, only to see that Jane and Remus were also kissing. He glanced over to Marlene, who seemed oblivious to their awkward surroundings.

"Hey." He said, scooping up some snow and tossing it into her lap. She broke out of her daze and smiled at him.

"Time's really gone by fast hasn't it?" She said softly.

"Merlin, you can say that again." Sirius sighed, leaning back against the tree. He put his hands behind his head and sighed again. She leaned back against his arm, and he subconsciously wrapped it around her shoulders. She moved closer to his body, shivering.

"We don't talk enough anymore." She said sadly.

"I know." He sighed. "I thought you didn't mind though. I mean, you've got Shawn and his friends..."

"They can never replace the Marauders though." Marlene interrupted him, grinning.

Sirius grinned back. "Glad to hear it. I was worried you were drifting."

"Me?" She said, mock-shocked. "Never."

"Good." He said, pulling her closer to him. "I thought I'd lost my Mars Bar for a second there."

"You'll never lose your Mars Bar." She told him. "It'll take You-Know-Who and his followers to take me away."

He smiled at her, and she smiled back, dark brown eyes looking deep into his.

"I missed you Sirius." She told him. "I'm glad I came to this snowball fight."

"Yeah... Me too."

* * *

**AN: Soo, sort of a filler chapter, but let me know what you thought nonetheless! I mainly wrote this to show you all just how far along we are in the year. It's the end of February right now (in the story), meaning they only have FOUR MONTHS LEFT OF SCHOOL.  
This chapter is kind of personal because I'll be graduating next year and going to high school and although I know it's a small transition, I'm still shocked by how fast this year's gone by. Tell me about how you guys are feeling! Are you looking forward to school ending, or are you wondering where all the time went, like me?  
Thanks for reading by the way. Hope you enjoyed it!**

**-Taylor :)**


	8. The Order

**AN: As usual, huge thanks to my reviewers of the last chapter:  
pixies114, LoneElfFlight, ForTheGloryOfSparta, jg13145, Ranma's girl1, BethElizaBlack, and .  
Onto the show!**

* * *

****As the start of March came to the grounds of Hogwarts, the pretty snow turned quickly into ugly slush. That didn't bother one student though.

"So I was thinking," Sirius began animatedly. Come to think of it, he had been in a much brighter mood now that Marlene had started hanging out with them much more. "A slush fight. Like a snowball fight, only you use slush instead!" He looked to his friends to gauge their reactions.

"Erm, no." Jane said, wrinkling her nose. "That's really gross."

Sirius frowned, looking to his other friends for some support.

"C'mon guys!" He whined.

"Sorry Padfoot, Jane's right. It was okay when it was white and fluffy and lovely, but now it's muddy and grey and ugly and it's depressing to look at and wet and-"

"Yes. Thank you Prongs." Sirius cut off his best friend's ramble. James grinned at him sheepishly, and dug into his sausages and eggs.

"I thought it was a great idea." Marlene whispered to him. Sirius felt his ears go red, and a grin spread across his face.

"Thanks." He whispered back, all of their friends oblivious to their whispers. Sirius craned his neck to see where Shawn was sitting. He felt... odd about this whole thing. He didn't like acting flirty with Marlene when she obviously had a boyfriend. Normally he wouldn't give a damn, but lately, he felt like he was a criminal every time they shared a smile or a wink.

"I know." Marlene sighed, looking to see where Sirius was looking. "We shouldn't be..." She trailed off.

"It's weird though. I'm not used to not being like this with you." Sirius said.

"Well, we should stop." Marlene said. "We're friends. _Strictly_ friends."

"Right." Sirius said forcefully. "Just remind me anytime I'm out of line, okay?"

She smiled at him. Not a flirty smile, just a genuine, happy smile. "Sure."

* * *

Jane looked to Remus and wondered how in the world she was going to tell him her big secret. What would he say? Oh God, she couldn't bare to think what this would mean to their relationship. What should she choose?

"You okay?" Remus asked, concerned. God. Of course he was concerned. He was the perfect boyfriend.

"Y-yeah. Fine." She tried to force a smile. He smiled back, probably knowing she was lying through her teeth, and waiting for her to tell him when she was ready.

Why was he so perfect?

"Hey Remus," She started.

He turned. "Yeah Janey?"

She smiled every time he called her that. "Er... H-how's that Arithmancy project going?" She chickened out.

"Good..."

"Great." She smiled, and turned back to her breakfast, head hung in shame. God, she was such a coward.

"Er," She tried again. Remus sighed and turned to her, smiling amusedly.

"Trying to tell me something?" He guessed.

He was a damn good guesser. "Nah." She said, turning away again. She heard him sigh.

"Am I allowed to eat breakfast or will I be stopped again?" He asked, joking of course, but it still made her feel even worse. Of course, he didn't know how much this was killing her.

"Ha ha." She forced. "You can eat in peace, I've got to go to the library before class starts anyways." She got up from the bench and was ready to depart when he caught her elbow.

"Sorry Jane, I was only joking." He said, head hung. She could've kissed him.

"Remus don't apologize! Really, I need to go return a couple of books, it's nothing you said." She told him. He smiled, relieved.

"Good. I'll come, if you'd like some company." He said, readying himself to get up.

"No, don't." She said, too forcefully. He looked up at her like a wounded puppy-dog, the relieved smile wiping from his features in a second. "Eat your breakfast. I'll be back before class, I promise." He nodded and watched her leave. She concentrated on the door, not looking back to see the concerned frown she was absolutely positive was on her boyfriend's face.

She sighed, stepping out of the Great Hall, and made her way to the library. She still had fifteen minutes before class started, and their classroom was right beside the library. She headed for the Care Of Magical Creatures section. She pulled out her favourite book: How To Train Your Dragon. It was a hypothetical book of course, stating real facts, but knowing a normal Hogwarts student would not have their very own dragon. She re-read all the facts she had already memorized.

Sighing, she closed the book, and wandered to the librarian's desk.

"I'd like to return these books." She said quietly.

"Of course." The librarian said, taking them from her hands. Jane knew from past experience what would happen next. She could've bet ten thousand galleons that the librarian would then say...

"Wow. Lots of books about dragons hm?"

Jane gritted her teeth and fought to smile. She liked Madam Pince well enough, but the judging tone of her voice made it almost impossible to keep smiling. She tried though.

"Mm-hmm. Yeah." Jane said, trying to smile, probably looking like she was in some sort of pain.

As Madam Pince waved her wand over the books, she told Jane that the library would be closed this afternoon.

"Oh? Why?" Jane asked, curiosity picked.

"Staff meeting." Madam Pince said curtly enough that Jane knew it had to be more than just a staff meeting. She watched as Madam Pince fixed her glasses, and stared through her square spectacles to give her a cold, judging stare. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No. What time will the library be closed again?" She asked.

"It will close at exactly 3 o'clock. No later." Madam Pince said shortly again. Jane thanked her, and walked out of the library with her new information, almost forgetting she had class right now. She bolted to the door just in time to walk in with the last students. She caught her breath and fixed the shoulder strap on her bag, looking for Remus.

"Jane!" He called. She smiled and went over to sit beside him. "How was the library?" He asked.

"Good." She said. "But I heard there's going to be a staff meeting in the library this afternoon at three."

"Staff meeting? In the library? At three?" He repeated. She nodded. "How odd."

"You can say that again. Plus, Madam Pince was-"

"Ms. Elizabeth." Professor Binns scolded. Jane shut up immediately, taking out her books and notes. As the professor droned on and on about who knows what, the bored Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs sat in silence, wondering when the professor would finally stop talking. Jane however, had other things on her mind.

It certainly was bizarre that they were having a staff meeting in the library. And at 3 o'clock. Usually, they had staff meetings in the Great Hall or Professor Dumbledore's office. She wondered why this time it was different.

* * *

"Class is over, Jane." He told her. She picked up her things and waited for her friends to finish packing up, to walk out with them. They had a free period now, and while normally they would spend this time doing homework, Jane needed to tell them about this.

And so she did.

"The library? When did you even _go_ to the library?" Lily questioned.

"This morning."

"What for?"

"Nothing." Jane coughed to hide her guilty expression. "Just to return some books, is all."

"Okay... but why is this a big deal?"

Jane thought about Madam Pince's closed expression and brisk tone. "Madam Pince was just being very odd about the whole thing. You'd have to be there to see it."

"So, you want to..." James trailed off, trying to word it correctly. "Investigate, or something? I don't understand."

Jane sighed. "I know, it's hard to explain. You don't all have to come. I just wanted to know if I could borrow your map and cloak."

"I'm coming." James said. "Who knows? Maybe this'll be worthwhile."

Lily smiled at her. "Yeah, I'll come too."

Jane grinned at them both, and turned to her other friends. They all agreed, some more reluctant than others, but Jane didn't mind.

And so they made their plans. "Well, that's right after Potions which are in the dungeons, and end at 2 o'clock. So, if we all move quickly, we can get everything we need, and be in the library by 2:30. We'll wait there until Madam Pince kicks us out, then we'll walk out the doors, James'll put on the cloak, walk in with the teachers, and record it all with his wand! Then we'll all listen in on their conversation later on. It's completely fool-proof!"

So after Potions that day, they all rounded up the supplies they needed, and were in the library by 2:45. They had been let out of Potions later than usual because Sirius had poured some of his potion onto a Slytherin's hand and burned him. They all had to wait after class for him to be punished by Slughorn.

"Well, I hope you're happy. Now we're late." Marlene said.

"We've still got 15 minutes okay? No need to get your knickers in a twi-" He paused as they approached the locked doors, with a sign on them saying that the library was now closed. "What? I thought you said it closed at three!"

Jane stared at the sign as if it were lying. "But... she told me three! I swear she did!" She told her friends desperately.

"Don't worry." Lily soothed her. "I'm sure James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter know a way to get us in." She turned to the three boys. "You _do_ know how to get us in don't you?"

"Er..." Remus said, rubbing his chin. "I think I remember once... what about that time in fourth year?" He turned to his friends.

They grinned. "You mean the floo powder incident?" James asked.

"No no. The other time. In October."

"I know what he's talking about." Peter piped up. "That was March, Moony."

"What? You're thinking of that time in third year mates!" Sirius told them.

"No, I was sure it was in fourth year! I-"

"Does it really matter guys?" Marlene cut between the three of them, chuckling. "We just need to know how to get in."

Sirius grinned. "Well, we've got the perfect plan."

They all followed him to the classroom beside the library. It was a classroom to work in if the library was ever full. Nobody was ever in there though, not until exams were about to arrive anyways.

Sirius grabbed a table and moved it into the center of the room. He looked at his friends, who were grinning at him.

"C'mon then. Ladies first." Sirius pulled Jane by the hand and helped her onto the table. She looked down at them in confusion.

"Er, what are we doing?"

Sirius chuckled. "Almost forgot." He whipped out his wand and pointed it to the ceiling. He muttered something, and a hole in the ceiling appeared, showing them pipes overhead. Very_, very_ large pipes.

Jane looked up at the ceiling. "And I'm going to get up there," She pointed to the five feet of distance that there was between her and the pipe. "How exactly?"

"Levicorpus." Sirius muttered again, pointing his wand lazily at Jane, who yelped as she was lifted off the table and up to the ceiling. She grabbed on to the pipe and pulled herself up, looking at them through the hole, grinning.

"C'mon then, we don't want to be late!"

* * *

"When'd you guys find this one?" The three girls sighed, asking the age-old question as they trudged through the pipes. The four boys grinned.

"Second year. Back when we could walk in these pipes without having to duck." James replied. "Now shh, we're over top of them right now. Listen."

They all stood silently, listening intently. Just as James had said, they heard Professor Dumbledore's calm voice through the vents. Remus got down on hands and knees, peering through the vent.

"Hmm." He said. "You'll have to be quiet. And that means go slow, Prongs." He said forcefully.

James rolled his eyes. "I _can_ go slow, you know. I just prefer not to."

"Well, _I_ prefer not to get caught." Marlene cut in. "So, anytime now would be just lovely."

James shot her a thumbs up, and pulled the invisibility cloak over himself. He disappeared from view, and soon the vent was clicked open.

"I'll leave it open, so we can hear too." Remus whispered. They didn't know when or if James had landed safely and quietly, but prayed that he did. They listened as Professor Dumbledore was pulling out chairs for all the teachers.

"Now, I know most of you are wondering why I have brought you here, without a word of reason or why." He said. The group of professors nodded, and let him go on. Dumbledore smiled. "I have decided, with the help of the heads of the houses, to start a..." He trailed off, seeming to search for the right word. He sighed, chuckling. "There's no better way to put it. A group against Voldemort."

Many gasps came from the professors, even one teacher shrieking. The group started mumbling amongst themselves rather rudely, as Dumbledore was trying to speak, and so he just stopped and let them talk. Professor McGonagall thought this to not be acceptable.

"Listen!" She said loudly, glaring at the teachers though her spectacles. "We five have discussed this, and it is a _brilliant_ plan."

As the teachers calmed down, James looked up to his friends. They were whispering, each wide-eyed and curious. Everyone in the room quieted down and stared at Dumbledore absorbedly, James included.

"I shall go on." He said, leaning against a table. "Now, you may each choose whether or not you'd like to be a part of this 'group'. It will involve professors as well as past students and anyone else who'd like to join. We will try to invite as many people as possible. We will be called the Order of the Phoenix, and it is a _s_ecretsociety." He paused. "I will not assume that you will all like to join. There are of course, some dangers in this group. We will be against Lord Voldemort and his followers. We are the opposite of everything he bases himself on." He paused again. "The time to act is now. You will not lose your jobs if you do not care to join. Please feel free to leave if you have no interest in this group, but also feel free to never discuss of this again, for, as I said, it is a _secret_ society."

James was disgusted by the number of professors that left. They obviously were right to fear Voldemort—who wouldn't?—but they should still want to help!

By the end, there were only the heads of houses that remained, and a couple other professors. Dumbledore seemed not disappointed in the least, reassuring every professor after they apologized that it was fine, and he didn't expect them to want to stay. It was a dangerous cause they were fighting for, but a worthwhile one.

"Cowards." Professor McGonagall muttered once all the teachers had evacuated the library.

"Now, now Minevra. This is extremely dangerous. We can't expect them to want to put their selves, or their families in danger like that."

Eight professors including Professor Dumbledore were now in the room. Dumbledore seemed not the least bit perturbed, and continued talking about the Order of the Phoenix.

"Something even the heads of houses-whom I have spoke on numerous occasions about this-do not know, is that I plan on inviting anyone who would like to join over the age of seventeen."

James' eyes widened, listening as if his life depended on it. He didn't dare move closer though, as now that the library was practically empty, he would probably be heard.

"Professor Dumbledore sir, do you really think that's a good idea?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"Of course, or I wouldn't have suggested it."

Professor Flitwick blushed and looked down, embarrassed.

"I have already a couple students I would like to invite. Whether or not they'd like to join is their complete decision." He paused. "Another thing I might add," He looked to his colleagues. "Is that I originally made this secret society for a certain seventh year by the name of Remus Lupin."

* * *

**AN: So, I think this is going to be my all-time favourite chapter to write. It's not finished, I just needed to break off because the chapter was getting way too long. I'm so excited to write some more! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought about this! I'd really appreciate it, and you could even leave some ideas of what you'd like to see in the next chapter. Thanks for reading as usual, please review, and I'll see you next chapter. The Order, part 2. **

**-Taylor :)**


	9. A Lucky And Unlucky Day

**Huge thanks to my reviewers of the last chapter: Katerinagrey, pixies114, tryagain4me, jg13145, . , Firestrong, Cynthia Real Name Dracalina, and violetrose! Thanks, and enjoy this long-overdue chapter!**

* * *

"M-me?" Remus managed to choke out after the unbearably uncomfortable silence that had followed Professor Dumbledore's last sentence.

"You?" Sirius echoed dumbly, a blank expression on his features.

James looked up to see his friends' faces all mimicking the one he wore right now. Unable to contain himself, he stepped forward until he was nearly as close to Dumbledore as the teachers were.

"Remus?" Professor McGonagall asked thoughtfully. "You didn't tell us _this_ Albus."

Professor Dumbledore smiled gravely. "Dangers lie ahead, something you all know."

James tried to control his heavy breathing, certain he would be heard. _Dangers lay ahead? _This was something he most certainly did _not_ know.

"And although it may not be on your top priority list, it is on mine." Professor Dumbledore paused.

"Er, what exactly _is _on the top of your list Albus?" Professor Kuttleburn asked.

"Getting Mr Remus Lupin his dream job." Professor Dumbledore said simply. He let his words hang there, letting the teachers think about this. "He would like to be an Auror, like every other one of his friends." Professor Dumbledore chuckled through the serious topic. "He cannot, as some wizards found out about his condition."

The teachers gasped. "Meaning _what_ Albus? _Please_, just tell us what you mean by all of this." Professor McGonagall pleaded, obviously not able to contain her curiosity for any longer.

"It means that the head of the Auror Office knows that once every month, Remus turns into a werewolf. I will not mention any names, though I'm sure you all know well who I'm talking about, will not let any werewolves into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Remus, as highly skilled as he is, has no chance of being an Auror working for the Ministry.

"And so I have every intention to invite Remus to the Order of the Phoenix. It is his choice, of course, whether or not he'd like to join, but I thought it would be a nice gesture to invite the one and only boy in the school who has no shot at his dream job."

Ten feet above Professor Dumbledore and the other professors, Remus didn't dare breathe. Did this mean what he thought it meant?

"I would love having Mr Remus Lupin as a part or this organization. I am sure he would be an excellent addition to our very little yet very skilled group of professionals."

The teachers agreed almost straight away, firing away stories of just how skilled Remus was in their classes, and what an amazing student he was even outside of classes.

Up in the pipes, Remus was completely at a loss for words. He looked to his friends quickly. They were already staring at him with huge grins on their faces. Sirius was the first to reach him.

He swung his arms around Remus and nearly tackled him with the giant bear hug he gave to him. "Atta boy, mate." Sirius said quietly into his ear, and Remus could hear the grin on his best friend's face. Peter quickly joined in, and Jane, Lily and Marlene joined in on the group hug straight away as well. They made sure to be quiet so as not to be heard form down below.

As the friends slowly began to peel away from Remus, Jane stayed, kissing Remus passionately, and Remus reciprocated just as passionately. Sirius whooped loudly, then time slowed down.

Sirius' eyes widened as Marlene tackled him, throwing a hand over his mouth. Lily whipped around quickly, looking down imploringly to see if anyone had heard. Peter wrung his hands—something he always did when he was nervous—and stared at his friends with shock on his face. Remus and Jane pulled away slowly, looking down at the professors who were staring right back at them.

"Er, hello Mr Lupin and friends."

* * *

As the seven friends sat in the library, they couldn't help but smile impishly at the teachers.

"Sorry 'bout that." Sirius said finally.

Professor McGongall sighed. "I should've known something like this would happen."

This only made Sirius grin even more.

"How much did you hear?" She asked the seven friends. They all sat down in chairs, facing the teachers who were now standing across from them, leaning on the same desk Dumbledore had been just minutes before.

"The whole thing." James admitted. "We think it's a brilliant idea! We can all join, can't we?" He said excitedly. The other friends nodded wildly in agreement.

"Of course." Dumbledore murmured. "I just want you all to know what you're signing up for."

"We want to defeat Him." Remus said strongly. "We always have. And although they can all be real Aurors I think I'd rather work for _you_ anyways Professor Dumbledore." Remus admitted, smiling.

"You will not be working for me Remus." Dumbledore said. "You will be working _with_ me. With _us_." He gestured to the smiling teachers that surrounded them. "Alongside each and every one of us."

Remus grinned. "Sounds brilliant to me. When do we start?"

Dumbledore let out a sigh. "Now, this is where we encounter a problem. Where to start?" He paused. "I think I'll mull this over with a cup of tea. I will be sure to let you all know when we have our next gathering. Until then..." He looked at each student, pausing slightly on Jane. She looked at him imploringly and he turned around, cloak fluttering behind him at he left the library. All the teachers left together right after that, and the seven friends stayed, simply staring at one another.

"Merlin." James said, grinning. "This is bloody... bloody..."

"Amazing?" Peter offered. James shook his head, searching.

"Remarkable?" Marlene said. Again, James shook his head as no.

"Incredibly lucky?" Remus said. James turned to him. "For me." Remus added on.

"Yes!" James said loudly, throwing an arm over Remus' shoulders. "Incredibly lucky pretty much describes this day, doesn't it?"

The group laughed, agreeing. All but one.

* * *

Jane walked down the nearly empty corridors to Professor Dumbledore's office. She needed to speak to him straight away.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir?" She called as she reached the gargoyles that guarded his office.

"Lemon Lolly-Lickers!" She heard be called, and the gargoyles leaped aside, letting her pass. "Ah, Jane." Dumbledore said, conjuring up a chair from nothing. "Please, sit."

"I can't be in the Order of the Phoenix professor." She said. Better to get if off of her chest straight away.

"I know, I haven't forgotten that you accepted to go help Mr Harvey Ridgebit at his Romanian dragon sanctuary." He peered at her over his half-moon spectacles. "You _are_ still going, aren't you?"

"Of course." She said quickly. She couldn't exactly back out now, now that she had already been accepted. Only few got accepted by Mr Ridgebit himself, and she'd been one of the lucky wizards from all around the world to be selected. She wouldn't dream of _ever_ backing out. Except...

"I'd like to be a part of the Order of the Phoenix though, sir." She said.

Professor Dumbledore frowned. "Well, you can until the end of the year. Then, if you choose to, you may come back after you've finished your three years in Romania." Dumbledore looked at her with great pity. "I'm terribly sorry Jane, but there is just no other way."

Jane swallowed her sadness. "I u-understand."

Dumbledore nodded, staring at the gadgets on his desk for a minute before breaking the silence once more. "I get the impression you haven't yet told your friends about Romania."

Jane grimaced. "Still getting around to that."

Dumbledore gave her a look, and that was all it took for the pit in her stomach to crawl with anxiety, as she gulped down hard. Her stomach was fluttering, her heart besting madly against her chest, as she thought of how she would _ever_ get around to telling her friends she was leaving for _three years_ to go to _Romania._

"I'd love for you to be a part of The Order while you're still in Britain." Dumbledore told her. She looked down at her hands. "So you will be a part of The Order while you are still in Britain." He paused. "Of course, it is your decision, but I got the impression you really wanted to be a part of it."

She sighed. "I do, it's just..." She trailed off, looking at Professor Dumbledore's pet phoenix. "Hey, Professor Dumbledore?" She changed topics.

"Yes Jane?"

"Did you name the group after your pet phoenix?"

Dumbledore's clear blue eyes twinkled as he smiled. "Fawkes is much more than a pet to me. He is my source of inspiration with every thing I do. It only seemed fair to give him the name of perhaps the most important thing I will ever do in my life."

"This is the most important thing you'll ever do?" Jane asked.

"Maybe not that I'll ever do, but that I have ever _done_." He smirked.

"But... you defeated Grindelwald..." She trailed off, seeing Dumbledore shake his head with a knowing smile.

"I believe a lot of things Jane, and one of them is that I know that my future lies in the hands of the next generation. That is you. I believe that, in making this group against possibly the strongest, most dangerous force out there, I am building the next generation up with power and courage, things most valuable in a wizards' life." He looked at her then, as he had been staring at Fawkes thie whole time. "I would appreciate it if you told your friends your plans for the future. They all know theirs. It's time to let them know yours."

Jane smiled. "I will. Courage, right?" She grinned at him.

He smiled back. "Thank you Jane, and good luck."

"I'll need it." She muttered nervously, as she got up from her chair and waved goodbye to Professor Dumbledore. Only one question circled around her mind as she walked to the Gryffindor common room. How on _earth_ would she tell them?

* * *

"Romania." Remus echoed blankly.

"Well, yes." Jane told him back.

"For three years."

"Precisely."

She had decided to tell Remus first, and once she walked into the common room and saw him reading, she knew it was time to tell him, and that he would understand. She was starting to have second thoughts on that though.

"I won't see you ever again."

"Now look," Jane said, slightly angry now. "You will. In three years time."

"You _honestly_ think we can make this work?" Remus asked her, disbelief echoing his voice.

"You don't?" She challenged him.

"'Course I'd _like_ it to. But... _three years_. Bloody hell that's a lifetime." He rubbed a hand against the back of his neck nervously. He looked uncomfortable around her suddenly, almost like he wanted to be anywhere but with her right then.

"Are you sure you'd like it to, because you sound like you _wouldn't_ like it to." She said, annoyed. How dare he make her feel like this? Like an annoying little girl who was disrupting his reading with her problems that he wanted no part of. Her stomach got that awful sickening feeling again, as her eyes narrowed at him, sitting there so casually, like this wasn't a big deal at all.

"Listen, it's three years that I won't see you!" He said, sitting up straighter in his chair. "I haven't even known you for three years."

"You've known me since First Year!" She exploded. "Oh, but you've always ignored me up until this year haven't you? Why did you even start to like me this year? Was it a dare? Just for fun?"

"_You know it wasn't!_" Remus growled loudly. "I just think three years is a _long bloody time!_"

"Well, fine." She said shortly, feeling tears burn the corner of her eyes. "We won't make it work." She said, tears cracking her voice. Her cheeks were flushed red, embarrassed, and she felt like a knife had been stabbed through her heart. "It's a lifetime, you're right! Let's just never see each other again!"

And with that, she turned on her heel and ran upstairs, into her dormitory, where Marlene and Lily sat, Lily braiding Marlene's hair.

"Hey Jane what's... Oh my god." Lily gasped, dropping Marlene's hair. "What's wrong?"

"I... I think..." Jane sobbed, taking deep breath after deep breath.

"Shh... calm down." Marlene said, sitting beside her and hugging her. "Now, slowly, tell us what's wrong."

"I t-think Remus and I have just b-broken up."

* * *

**AN: Wow ruining the moment with an Authour's Note, I know. I totally understand if you just want to review while your emotions are riled before reading this completely calm Authour's Note LOL.  
As usual, I hope you loved this chapter. As you can probably tell, it took me FOREVER to write this chapter. I'm not going to say I had writer's block because I totally didn't. It's just that what witht he incredible weather I've been having, I've been outside all the time, never home, always busy. I'm sorry!  
But know that from now on (I am really hoping), updates will NOT be as long a wait.**

**So thanks for reading, please review, and I'll see you next chapter (which will come soon LOL)**

**-Taylor :)**


	10. Confusion

**Thanks to all my reviewers of the last chapter: jg13145, violetrose, Nikki Ride, pixies114, and Firestar007! **  
**I greatly appreciate all your feedback, and hope you always continue to write me reviews! Thanks a lot, so here's the next chapter.**

* * *

"Wait." Lily said, putting her hands up to pause all commotion. "What do you mean you '_think'_ you broke up?" She asked, eyebrows raised.

"W-well h-h-he—" Jane stuttered, face going red, eyes releasing new tears by the second.

"Calm down." Marlene soothed her, rubbing her hand on her back gently. "Deep breath, then tell us everything."

Jane pulled herself together, feeling distraught and weak. She wanted nothing more than to just curl up under the covers and have a nice—particulary long—nap, in which she would not be disturbed. But she couldn't, because there were things other than her break-up with Remus to talk about.

Covering her face with her hands—she was a coward and she would admit it—she said quietly, "I'm moving to Romania this summer to work with Harvey Ridgebit at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary." Her heart broke just a tad bit as she remembered those were the exact words she had said to Remus too. She prayed her best friends would not react the same way he had.

"What?" Marlene squeaked, removing her hand from Jane's back as if it had burned her.

"When did you find out?" Lily asked in a small voice, face showing no expression whatsoever.

"A couple months back. Maybe December." She shrugged, knowing the exact date—even the exact _class_ she had been in—when she had first gotten the news.

"December?" Marlene shrieked. "It's been five months?" She demanded of Jane, who merely shrugged in response.

"Time goes by fast when you try your hardest not to think about it."

"Then why're you telling us now?" Lily asked coolly.

Again, Jane shrugged. "Thought you ought to know."

"Well, thanks." Lily said sarcastically. "We won't see you all summer and you're acting like it's no big deal."

Jane picked up a pillow and hit it against her face multiple times.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Marlene demanded again, pulling the pillow from Jane's grasp.

Jane took a deep, steadying breath, then looked to Lily carefully. "You won't see me for much longer than just this summer. He asked me to go for three years."

Jane watched Lily closely to gauge her reaction. She saw Marlene from the corner of her eye throw her hands up and storm into their bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Lily simply stared, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. Finally, she scowled at Jane.

"You _do_ realize if we had been in your position we would have told you the moment we found out?" She hissed.

Jane burst into tears. "I-I'm s-sorry!" She wailed. "I-I just thought, maybe, if you guys didn't know, it would be like I-I wasn't l-l-leaving at all!" She stuttered. She wiped her tears on the palm of her hands, staring at the floor in shame.

Lily sighed and got up form her bed to sit beside Jane. She wrapped her hand consolingly around Jane's waist, letting Jane lean on her shoulder.

"I understand. You should've told us earlier, but I understand." Lily told her. Jane sniffed loudly, sitting up to look at Lily.

"I'm sorry." She said, grateful to have a friend as understanding and as level-headed as Lily.

"It's okay, no more apologies, please." Lily said, putting up one hand. "Do you think you're making the right choice here? I mean, accepting to leave for three years?"

Jane sniffed and wiped her eyes again, nodding. "I'm positive."

"Good." Lily smiled, hugging Jane. "Then why are you crying?"

Jane smiled weakly. "I'll just miss you lot, is all."

"Well, we've got two and a half months left of school. Two and a half more months where we don't have to think about you leaving. So get out all your tears now, because I won't let you shed another tear over this." Lily told her sternly, smiling.

"And Marlene? And the guys?" Jane wondered aloud.

"I'll talk to them." Lily sighed. "They might not understand your decision, but they'll accept it." Lily paused to hug her again. "You'll always have us. Whether you like it or not." She promised.

Jane wiped her eyes one last time, then smiled. Lily would talk to Marlene, James, Sirius, Peter and...

"R-Remus." Jane whispered, biting her fingernails.

"I'll speak with him." Lily said forcefully. "You're in no mood to talk anymore, so have a nap or something. I'm leaving, and I'll bring Marlene with me. Rest in peace." Lily said softly, pushing Jane down gently to lie down. Jane got under the covers and sighed, closing her eyes and forcing the thought of everything out of her mind.

"Thanks Lily." Jane whispered.

The last thing she saw was Lily sighing, and she fell into a deep, peaceful, non-complicated, sleep.

* * *

"Come with me." Lily whispered to Marlene, waving her hands frantically for Marlene to be quiet.

"What for?" Marlene demanded loudly.

"Shh!" Lily hissed, scowling. "Jane's trying to sleep."

Marlene rolled her eyes and walked out of the bathroom, seeing Jane lying in bed with her eyes closed. She stormed out of their room, slamming the door behind her. Lily caught the door before it slammed, and shut it softly.

"She's sorry, okay?" Lily said, jogging down the staircase to keep up with the furious Marlene.

"Oh, I'm _sure_ she is. She's known since _December_ Lily! What kind of friend does that? Why is she telling us all the sudden now?"

Lily frowned at the questions that's he did not know the answer to. "She's at a really low point right now Mar." Lily said softly. "What kind of friends would we be if we didn't support her when she most needed it?"

Marlene rolled her eyes, but she knew Lily was right. She sighed. "Three years though. What are we going to do?"

"Wait patiently." Lily smirked. "We're best friends. Three years is long, but we'll be fine."

They were at the bottom of the staircase now, and Lily spotted Remus sitting by the fire, staring into it. She went to go sit beside him.

"Hey." She said softly.

Remus stared at her for a second, then looked back into the fire.

"How are you?" Lily asked, voice quiet.

"Fine." He replied, still watching the fire blaze, the flames making eery shadows across his grim face.

* * *

Across the room, Marlene spotted James, Sirius and Peter coming in from the Fat Lady's portrait. She shoved them back out of the portrait hole, ignoring the Fat Lady's yells.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked, on full-alert. He could tell something was wrong by the expression on Marlene's face.

"Well," Marlene sighed. "Long story or short story?"

"Long." Sirius said, a serious look on his face. And so Marlene told them everything she knew.

* * *

Back in the common room, Lily was distraught. "Fine?" She squeaked.

"Would you rather I not be?" Remus smirked.

"I-I just thought..."

"I'd be sad? Hurt? Depressed?" Remus guessed, finally meeting her eyes. Lily nodded meekly. Remus rolled his eyes. "Just a little fed-up to be completely honest."

"Fed-up?" Lily repeated.

"That's what I said." Remus said, taking a deep breath through his nose.

"Whatever for?"

"Because," Remus answered, shifting positions so that he was facing Lily. "D'you ever feel like... like you're tired of trying so hard when things are obviously not getting better?"

Lily raised her eyebrows, curious and a little scared to know where he was going with this. "I suppose." She said. "Why?"

"Because with Jane it feels like I'm the one who's doing all the work!" Remus said, throwing his hands up. "It's frustrating and tiring! I'm always the one who offers to help her with something, who plans our dates, who leans in for the kiss first...!" Remus said, breathing in deeply. "It's tiring, being the only one who tries to keep up the relationship. I'm exhausted, so when she just told me that she was leaving, it was sort of a relief."

"I thought you love her." Lily said, eyes narrowing.

"I did!" Remus said.

"_Did_?" Lily repeated frantically, heart beating faster every time he opened his mouth to speak. She wasn't sure she could handle Remus telling her all this right now. It made what she'd known to believe that was true seem like lies.

"Do. Did. Whatever." Remus waved a lazy hand. "Doesn't matter much anymore. She's leaving for three years. See what I mean? I would never leave her for three years! She chose a job over me!"

"Uh, reality check Remus:" Lily said sternly. "She chose a job over _all_ of us. You're not the only person in her life who she's leaving. You _are,_ however, the only person who's _relieved _she's leaving though." Lily fixed him with a look.

"I'm not _relieved._" Remus snapped. "I'm just tired, okay? It feels like everything I do is for _her,_ and it doesn't matter because she doesn't see any of it."

"Bet she does." Lily clucked her tongue.

"Then why'd she wait for so long to tell me? D'you when she got the news, Lily? December!" He said, punching the pillow in his lap. "_She doesn't care_, that's why!"

"Don't you see Remus?" Lily asked, pulling the pillow away. "She does care! She cares so much that she was so scared to tell you! She was scared that once she told you, this would happen!" Lily said, waving her hands over Remus' body. "You're getting all worked up over it. Imagine if she had told you in December. Aren't you glad she waited now? You had four months of bliss with her. Uncomplicated bliss."

Remus opened and closed his mouth stupidly. "Well—that's just, completely missing the point!" He scrambled for words. "She should've told me!"

"She did."

"_Too late Lily!"_ Remus shouted loudly, standing up from the couch. The other Gryffindors in the common room looked over at him. "Too. Bloody. Late." He panted, sitting down. He put a hand to his forehead, sighing. "We're over. It's too late."

"Okay." Lily said, getting up. She gave him a fleeting look, then turned on her heel and marched up the steps to her Head room.

"Wait, Lil!" She heard be called. She turned around to see Remus running up the stair behind her.

"What?"

He sighed. "What would you do if you were me?"

Lily thought about that. "I'd think about her. She thinks she's a monster for doing this, Remus."

"Then why," He sighed again. "did she choose the job?"

"It makes her happy." Lily answered, smiling. "If you had to choose between Jane and The Order, what would you choose?"

Remus was speechless. Lily shook her head at him, turning to walk up the stairs, leaving him to think alone.

* * *

"Romania." Sirius repeated, awe-struck.

"Wow." Peter said, just as shocked.

"Three _years?_" James questioned. Marlene nodded. "Bloody hell, does Moony know?"

"The first to find out." Marlene said.

"And?"

Marlene squirmed. "Didn't take it too well."

"Great." Sirius said bitterly. "Just amazing, isn't it? Seventh year, too. Poor bloke."

"Yeah." Marlene sighed. "Jane feels awful."

"Well, she shouldn't." James said. "It's her decision to make."

Marlene was surprised at how well the boys were taking this news. They hadn't stormed away like she had, and James was right. It was her decision to make, whether Marlene liked it or not.

It was the future. It was rapidly coming. It was just around the corner, and if Marlene didn't get her act together, she'd _really_ be alone. With a determined spring in her step, she bid goodbye to the boys and walked to the place she hadn't willingly gone to in what seemed like forever.

The library.

* * *

**AN: So, Remus and Jane issues? Surprise, surprise.  
Marlene future issues? Typical.  
Seems like everybody's confused at the moment, and with The Order just beginning it is _not_ a good time to be so lost.  
Graduation may seem like a big deal now, but wait till you see what else I have in store for our favourite (excluding Pettigrew) six friends. **

**Hope you enjoyed, review if you did, and I'll see you next chapter.**

**-Taylor :) **


	11. Excitement And Awkwardness

**Big thanks to all my reviewers of the last chapter: Ranma's girl1, jg13145, Nikki Ride, violetrose, pixies114, CrayolaCreation, katerinagrey, Go . Marauders . And . Lily , megaroni13, Hanna, and anon!  
To the anon: Yes, I know updates have been much less frequent, but what with all the end of the year assignments all my teachers are assigning, hopefully you can relate? Sorry guys, I do try my hardest though!**  
**With that being said, enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Marlene waltzed into the library, set on her destination already. She made a beeline for the section she seldom visits after showing the librarian her signed note: the restricted section.

Because she was in seventh year and because their D.A.D.A. teacher was absolutely mad, at the beginning of the year, Professor Parsley (what an embarrassing last name, eh?) gave them all notes signed by him, saying that they had his permission to go into the restricted section at any given time.

What an idiot.

Of course, he probably trusted his seventh year students to be responsible enough not to go snooping for trouble. But, snooping was exactly what Marlene did best. And so snoop away she did.

She picked up the first book in the aisle and turned to read the spine. It was entitled _The Great and Powerful Spell book of Spells._ It rumbled slightly in her hands as she flipped the pages, rumbling louder and harder the more pages she flipped. Growing excited, she flipped all the pages as the rumbling nearly caused her to drop the book. She kept flipping until the book stopped suddenly. Surprised, she dropped the book. As she bent down to retrieve it, she looked at the page it had landed open on.

_Spells to save your life._

Perfect.

She read the entire page greedily, absorbing all the information she could. After all, during this whole mess with Jane and her friends, _someone _had to get some information. With The Order of the Phoenix, she knew they'd be battling things much bigger and much more dangerous than the things they learned in Defense classes.

As she read the lesser-complicated spells, she started to feel a bit of weight lift off her chest. _Expelliarmus, Finite Incantatem (negates spells), Incarcerous (ties up opponent with ropes), and Petrificus Totalus (the full body-bind curse). _She knew all of these spells.

But it seemed that the book started out with the simplest spells because after those, she had no clue what any of the spells listed even did. And so she read on, feeling her heart start to pound quicker in what she wasn't sure was just nerves or excitement.

* * *

"Has anybody seen Marlene?" Lily asked her group of friends that day at lunch. Despite the fact that Jane and Remus were not speaking, they sat together nonetheless.

Everybody shook their heads as no. Lily bit her lip nervously. It wasn't like Marlene to just wander off without telling anybody where. She turned to James.

"You sure she didn't tell you anything about where she was going?"

"She didn't say much, really." James told her, wrapping his arm around her waist. "But don't worry," James got a teasing glint in his eyes. "She's probably off snogging McKinnon somewhere."

Lily hit him with her potions textbook, giggling. "You're probably right." She relaxed into his side, as he wrapped his arm around her. "I'm going to go look for her after lunch though. Just in case."

"I'll come with you." James said, rubbing her arm. She smiled and kissed his cheek, then began eating lunch.

Near the end of lunch, a Gryffindor sixth year prefect walked up to them, holding a piece of parchment in his hands.

"Letter from Professor Dumbledore." He announced to his six friends, whose heads turned at the mention of their Headmaster. Peter took it from the sixth year boy and, thanking him, read it aloud.

_"Dear Marlene, Jane, Lily, Remus, Sirius, Peter and James," _Peter began.

"Why's my name always last?" James whined in Lily's ear. Lily laughed softly and took his hand underneath the table, listening intently.

_"Please meet me in my office at 1 o'clock this afternoon. All of you. Signed, Professor Dumbledore." _Peter said. The group all assumed he was done until he read on: "_P.S. I've a hankering for some exploding bonbons...?" _Peter said, turning it into a question near the end. He looked to his friends for some help.

"His password." Sirius prompted him. "Will be 'exploding bonbons.'" Sirius looked at his watch, as everyone understood. "Hate to rush lunch—really, I do—but we've got a meeting with Dumbledore in exactly twenty minutes and we're missing one of our members."

Lily raised her eyebrows and shook her hands by her side. "We need to find Marlene!"

James grabbed her quivering hands. "I'll go with you. We'll check the common room first. You lot split up. Remus you go with Ja—" James stopped mid-word, realizing his mistake.

The air was literally _thick _with awkwardness.

"With Peter. Sirius, you go with Jane." James finished, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably, and coughing.

"Right." Sirius huffed, getting up from his seat and walking over to Jane. "The kitchens, d'you reckon?" Sirius asked his partner.

Jane shrugged. Lily rolled her eyes. "She wouldn't be there. She might be in the library. You should check there." She told them. Sirius shot Lily a thumbs-up, and he and Jane made their way to the library. "Remus, Peter, maybe you guys should check some broom cupboards." Lily felt her cheeks flush. "Just incase, you know, she _is_ actually snogging Shawn."

Peter grinned but Remus just nodded—expressionless—and started following Peter out of the room.

"Oh, and meet at Dumbledore's no matter what. Better for one of us to miss it then all of us in our search for Marlene, alright?" James told them. They nodded, and left. Lily watched them go, then grabbed James by the hand.

"Let's go."

And so the three pairs split up in completely different directions. And low and behold, this would be the one day nobody remembers to bring the Marauder's Map.

* * *

James and Lily frantically speed-walked to the common room. Normally, it wouldn't be such a big deal to find their missing friend. But Professor Dumbledore didn't just invite his students for a meeting just to chat. Something must be going on. Lily quickly said the password to the Fat Lady ("_Fere Complevit") _and rushed in as soon as the portrait swung forwards.

"Marlene!" She called. A couple heads turned in her direction, but none were those of her best friend. "I'll be back. You stay here, ask some people if they've seen her lately." And with that, Lily left to go check Jane and Marlene's dormitory.

* * *

"So you haven't seen Marlene?" Peter bent down to speak to the little elves that presented him with cakes and pastries as soon as he and Remus walked in.

Molly the house elf shook her head reverently. "Million apologies Mr Peter!" She squeaked. "Molly had not seen she or her friends since two weeks past, Molly thinks!"

Peter shook his head in despair, standing upright again. "Well, thanks anyways Molly. And thanks again for the pastries." He nodded to the box in Remus' hands. "Oh!" Peter said suddenly, as a new idea hit him. "Would you perhaps be able to..." He leaned down into Molly's ear. She grinned up and him and rushed off into the kitchens. Peter stood up and smiled at Remus, who simply stared back. Peter sighed, took the box from his best friend's hands, and ate a pastry.

"We were supposed to go to the broom cupboards, you know." Remus prompted his friend in a monotone voice. Peter waved him off, mouth too full to speak even if he wanted to. As he silently chewed on his pastry, Remus sighed, leaning against the kitchen walls, crossing his arms and shutting his eyes.

* * *

"Marlene?" Sirius called loudly, cupping his hands around his mouth.

"Shhhh!" Madam Pince—along with studying fifth and seventh years—hissed. Sirius waved his hands to calm them down, rolling his eyes and chuckling. He looked up to see a familiar face stick her head out of a curious area to be in.

"Marlene!" Sirius said, somewhat softer. He still got dirty looks from the studying students, but he ignored them. "What the hell are you doing in the restricted section?"

Marlene grinned at him. "Studying."

Sirius' jaw dropped, but he brought it back with a chuckle, throwing his arm around her shoulders. "Marlene the extreme studier. It's got a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

She smiled at him, then showed him and Jane the book she was looking at. After reading the title, Jane and Sirius were a bit concerned.

"Marlene, what classes exactly will these sort of question be on for our NEWTs?" Sirius asked carefully.

Marlene giggled, shutting the book. "It's not for that, you prat. It's for, you know," She lowered her voice. "The Order." She said excitedly.

Sirius—despite himself—grinned back, just as excited. What could he say? They were all excited for The Order.

"Well, you found me." Marlene put her hands on her hips patiently. "What's up?"

Sirius opened his mouth to say something but Jane beat him to it. "Dumbledore calls. We need to go, now." She said, surprising them both with her gravelly, throaty voice, and the fact that she hadn't spoken this whole time.

"Er, right." Sirius glanced down at his watched. "Shit Mar, let's get a move on."

Marlene nodded, and the three friends left the library, making their way to Professor Dumbledore's office.

As they walked through the busy hallways of Hogwarts, Sirius, Jane and Marlene met Remus and Peter outside of Dumbledore's office.

Sirius sighed. "Forgot the password, did you?"

Peter grinned sheepishly. "Nah. Just didn't want to be the first to go in."

Sirius caught Marlene's eye and chuckled at his best friend's oddness. "Well, let's not waste any more time, shall we?" Sirius said, stepping in front of the gargoyles. "Exploding bonbons." He told them. They leapt aside to let the five friends through. Sirius knocked on Dumbledore's office.

"Come in." A deep voice said. Sirius opened the door and saw James and Lily already sitting in seats in front of Dumbledore's desk. Sirius looked to Peter is disdain, who smiled back stupidly, shrugging.

"You lot are late." James told them. "Nice to see you, Marlene."

Marlene smiled, waving. "Who found you?" Lily questioned.

"Sirius and Jane." She said, jerking her thumb to the two people next to her. "So what's this all about anyway?"

"I will explain now, Marlene." Dumbledore said calmly. "Take a seat, please." He said, as enough seats conjured from thin air with a wave of his hand. They each took a seat and stared at their headmaster attentively.

Dumbledore took a deep breath, then began. "As you all know, you are invited to be a part of The Order of the Phoenix. What you may not know is that we shall begin during the school year. In this week, to be more specific."

The seventh years' eyes widened and they all grinned in excitement. Dumbledore sighed. "Although I am very excited to get started on this project, you must first know that this is not all fun and games. It's not fun and games at all, really. We will be fighting Voldemort." They all subconsciously drew in a breath, which Dumbledore ignored as he went on: "Although you may have heard of his greatness and power, you have never seen it." Dumbledore paused, looking at them seriously. "I need to know you can all step up to your responsibilities. If—of course—you_ are_ joining this group."

The seventh years nodded in unison. Dumbledore started again. "We will be having our first meeting on Thursday. Please schedule around that, as it is incredibly important. Now, you seven are the not the only Gryffindors that will be participating. It is my understanding," Dumbledore said, staring at Marlene over his half-moon spectacles. "That Mr McKinnon would like to join as well." Dumbledore paused as Marlene smiled despite herself. "He was suggested by a number of teachers. There are two Hufflepuffs and three Ravenclaws that will also be joining our group. No Slytherins wanted to join, unfourtunately."

James snorted without humour. Lily furrowed her brow, and listened on. Dumbledore clasped his hands together and placed them on his desk gingerly. "That is all. I just wanted to inform you of the meeting this Thursday, and I wanted to make sure you all knew exactly what you were getting into." He raised his eyebrows at them all. Nobody said anything. Dumbledore smiled, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like '_Gryffindor bravery.'_

"What should we bring, Professor Dumbledore?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Your wands. That will be all."

"Does this mean I can talk to Shawn about this now?" Marlene asked excitedly. Dumbledore, suppressing a smile, nodded. Marlene grinned back.

"I look forward to starting training on Thursday. I will somehow tell you the time later this week. Thank you for coming." Dumbledore said. The seven friends got up and thanked Dumbledore, leaving his office.

"Wow." Lily breathed. "I can't wait." She looked to Jane, who was staring at her feet. She noticed Jane hadn't said anything the whole meeting. Come to think of it, neither had Remus. "What about you Jane?"

Jane looked up at her name. "Huh? Oh—right. Er, yeah. Can't wait."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Remus?" She asked.

Remus was staring at the paintings. "Yeah. I'm really excited." He answered, not looking away form the paintings. He however, sounded at least a little excited. Lily sighed, turning to her other friends who were watching Remus and Jane carefully.

"And you lot?" She asked.

They all grinned. "This will be amazing." Sirius whooped.

James suddnely grabbed Lily around the waist and swung her around, kissing her on the cheek.

"What was that for?" Lily asked, grinning.

"I'm just so looking forward to Thursday!" He exclaimed, running down the hallway. He jumped up and clicked his heels together, turning around to grin at them all before turning a corner and leaving them, his cheers echoing the halls.

Lily turned to Marlene and Peter who grinned.

"Thursday. Can't stop thinking about it." Marlene said, swinging her arms hugely by her sides.

"Well, I know one thing for sure." Peter said.

"What's that?"

"This week will be the longest week of our lives."

Lily sighed, giggling. She would count down the days until Thursday. She couldn't wait.

* * *

**AN: Yeah... I liked this chapter. Tell me what you guys thought about it though, will you? Reviews are better than anything else in the world. Except maybe J.K. writing a Marauders book ;)  
ANYHOW, as mentioned above, I shall (hopefully) start updating more. Reviews make me write, especially if you give me ideas in them! I appreciate all constructive criticism, so throw anything at me ! :P**

**But that's all for today folks.  
Hope you enjoyed.**

**-Taylor :)**


	12. First Meeting

**Big thanks to all my reviewers of the last chapter: Ranma's girl1, CrayolaCreation, Violetrose, ThatStrangeJilyShipper (love the username btw), pixies114, and Go . Marauders . And . Lily!  
I love you all with a fiery passion.**

* * *

"The day has finally come." Sirius squealed, giddy like a little girl who'd just discovered she was a witch and could do magic. "After all those NEWT practices I'm glad we've finally have at least _one_ thing fun to do this whole week."

Lily frowned. "Sirius, it's not supposed to be fun. We're supposed to learn things that other people don't... other people, who aren't going to fight against..." She had to stop before she squealed too. "You-Know-Who!" She said quietly, grinning despite herself.

"Admit it Lil! You're excited for it!" Sirius poked her in the sides. "Admit it." He said, poking her again. "Admit it." He pestered, repeating those two words every time he poked her.

"Okay, I admit it!" She said, pushing him away from her, laughing. "But we shouldn't be excited. Not with all those warnings Dumbledore's been giving us. You'd think we'd be scared out of our pants now."

"Why would we be scared? I know I'm not scared. There's nothing to be scared about." James told them confidently.

"We'll see about that Prongs." Remus muttered into his cereal.

"Meaning what?" James questioned, staring up at his best friend challengingly.

Remus sighed, meeting James' eyes. "I think you know."

"I really don't."

"Oh alright." Remus laid down his spoon, putting his elbows on the table and resting his chin in his linked hands. He stared at James carefully. "Let me just draw you a picture here."

James raised his eyebrows at his friend's tone. "Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, didn't they?"

"I am in the middle of drawing you a picture!" Remus snapped jokingly, as he tried to look mock impatient with James. James guffawed; relieved his friend was acting more normal, and waved a hand for Remus to begin. "Thank you." Remus breathed, still acting. "As I was _saying," _He tossed James a look. "The Order will not be all fun and games. And I hope you're all listening, because this is damn important. Dumbledore is trusting us with a responsibility he is also trusting with some of the _top Auror's in Britain_. Don't think for _a moment_ we'll be the best ones there because we'll be kicked out in seconds if we make fools of ourselves." Giving James, Sirius, and Peter strong looks of discipline, he added: "So don't make fools of us."

Sirius and James grinned at each other, then at Peter, who grinned back. Remus rolled his eyes.

"He's right." Said Jane, speaking up. "In fact, we'll probably be the worst ones there, something a few of us," She paused, staring at James and Sirius. "Will not be used to."

James and Sirius chortled, evidently, not worried in the least.

But once the day was over and the group started to pack up their things after their last class, Lily pulled James aside anyway.

"I hope you were joking this morning James. I know you, and frankly, I really_ don't_ trust you not to screw this up. I wasn't worried before but after hearing what Remus said—I'd completely forgotten there would be world-class Aurors there with us." She fretted, running her hands along the sides of her skirt for a lack of something better to do with her hands.

James fixed her with a look. "A little faith please Lily."

She smiled nervously. "I _do_ have faith in you. But, you do have a knack for being a git at times."

"But I'm a git at the _right_ times. I am a responsible git."

She laughed, thankful of the way some of the weight lifted off her shoulders as she did. They started to walk to the common room—following their friends—as Lily leaned on James' side. They were to meet Dumbledore at four o'clock in front of his office. He had told them not to go into his office, but to simply wait outside.

* * *

"My heart is beating fast." Lily admitted to her friends, looking at her watch impatiently as they sat in front of the fire in the common room. It was 3:20.

"Sorry. In the future, I'll try not to be so sexy."

"James, shut up."

* * *

"I really need to pee." Jane told the group.

"Then bloody go pee." Marlene responded.

"What if I'm not back in time?"

"It's 3:25."

"Oh, okay." And with that, Jane went to go pee.

* * *

"What if this whole thing is just a joke?" Peter asked everyone, crossing his legs.

"What are you on about now Wormtail?" Sirius sighed.

"What if this is just an April Fool's Day prank?"

"It's bleeding March."

"Oh. Right."

* * *

"I'm bored." Sirius whined.

"I know a good game." Marlene said.

"What's that?

"It's called: Shut Up Sirius."

"Never heard of it. Rules?"

"_You shut up_."

* * *

"I'm starving!" Peter sighed.

"You're always starving." Remus commented.

"And famished." James added.

Remus frowned. "'Starving' and 'Famished' are the same thing."

"They most definitely are not, or else there wouldn't be two different words."

"There are plenty of words that mean the same thing but have different words. They're called synonyms."

"Example?"

"James and Stupid."

* * *

"Maybe we should start to get going?" Remus suggested.

Lily checked her watch again and sighed with relief. "Oh thank the lord. That was the most painful half hour I've ever had to sit through. It also made me realize all my friends are mental."

"Right." Remus agreed, standing up. "Has everyone got their wand?"

"You'd have to be pretty thick to—" Sirius paused mid-sentence, patting his pockets. He grinned sheepishly. "Be right back." And he ran up the stairs.

"Me too." Peter said, chasing after him.

Remus rolled his eyes and sat back down. "We could be here awhile."

* * *

But finally, after all of their sufferings, they had made it outside of the common room. They were finally ready to go to Dumbledore's office.

"Starting to get extremely nervous..." Jane chanted under her breath as they walked along the corridors. Lily cast a sideways glance at her best friend, who smiled back.

Lily was glad Jane and Remus had started to act more like themselves. In the past week they hadn't spoken much to each other, but Lily knew there was an unspoken deal between them: They would stay friends. Jane seemed to be almost perfectly happy—as did Remus—so no one ever brought it up.

"I know." Agreed Peter, fiddling with his wand that had taken him nearly ten minutes to find. It had ended up being in his pocket. "Forget fighting You-Know-Who. I'll probably fall flat on my face as soon as I enter the room."

James chuckled because he knew this was true. "I'll cast levicorpus before you do any real damage." He assured Peter jokingly.

"Who d'you think we'll see there?" Marlene asked Shawn, whom they had called down right before they left. He was a nervous wreck as well, but wasn't close enough with the group to express how he really felt.

"Alice and Frank are coming." Shawn told them. "So's Caradog Dearborn and Benjy Fenwick from Ravenclaw, and the twins Fabian and Gideon Prewett from Hufflepuff."

"Wow." Lily breathed. "Any Auror's you know?" She asked James, who's father used to be extremely powerful in the Ministry back in his day.

James grinned. "Dad was telling me over the Christmas Break that Moody's a new Auror. Rumour says he's rounded up nearly _fifteen_ You-Know-Who supporters... and he's been employed for about _half a year._ He'll probably be invited."

"And then there's the teachers we know are there." Sirius continued. "McGonagall, Flitwick, Merrythought, Sprout, Hooch, and Kettleburn..."

"And of course Dumbledore." Lily added.

"The man who started it all." Remus breathed as they turned the last corner and Dumbledore's office finally came into view.

A man with a wooden leg was standing, talking with Professor McGonagall and Professor Merrythought. Lily couldn't hold back her gasp as he turned as saw the eight Gryffindors. He had one eye dark brown, stare holding on hers, while the other—an electric blue one, whizzing around crazily, from one Gryffindor to the next.

The other professors followed his gaze and smiled to the Gryffindors, McGonagall's smile slightly concerned. Moody turned back to Merrythought and muttered something that none of the seventh years caught—Merrythought responded with a vigorous nod of the head.

The seventh years continued their walk to Dumbledore's office, noticing they were one of the last people to arrive. No doubt their ten minute break to find Peter and Sirius' wand had stalled their arriving time by a bit.

It was at precisely that moment that Dumbledore chose to exit his office, and greet the professors and students that stood in front of him. "Hello and welcome. If you will all please follow me, I will take you to where our first meeting will be held."

The group of—Lily had counted—twenty-three walked to the library, where Dumbledore sealed the doors with a muffliato charm, and also locked them magically, assuring them that this was, in fact, a very private meeting.

Dumbledore turned to the group that lay in front of him, smiling and knotting his fingers together calmly. "Welcome," He breathed, though loud and clear enough for the whole group to hear. "To the first ever Order of the Phoenix meeting."

James, Sirius, Peter and Remus all started to clap and cheer, then realized no one around them was, and ceased immediately. Lily smiled despite the awkward tension that now surrounded them—you had to love their enthusiasm.

Dumbledore smiled, then continued on: "As you may have noted with all the precautions I am taking to ensure that nobody other than those of us in this room will hear what I'm going to say: this is a very, very secret meeting and must _remain secret_. I trust you all with the secret." Dumbledore paused, stroking his beard subconsciously. "As I have explained to the most of you, this is a group against Voldemort." There was the usual scandalized gasp that always followed when somebody spoke the unmentionable name, but Dumbledore went on. "But, not only are we doing it to fight against him. As you all know, Death Eaters are rising and are killing muggles and muggle-borns left and right. Alastor here has put numerous Death Eaters in Azkaban prison." He said rather fondly. Moody's only response was to zip his magical eye to Dumbledore, then back to exploring the people in the room. "But Alastor cannot work alone, and though he has many great Auror's by his side at the Ministry, the Minister of Magic is rather—shall we say, _close-minded_ to the fact that Voldemort is gaining power." Dumbledore paused thoughtfully. "Therefore, I thought it most appropriate to start a whole other group of Auror's. The Order of the Phoenix, in fewer words."

"Sir?" Fabian Prewett raised his hand. "I thought you were offered post for Minster of Magic several times. Why don't you just take up on that offer? You'd make an excellent Minister of Magic!"

Dumbledore smiled. "Thank you Fabian, but I do not wish to be Minister of Magic. I wish to stay at Hogwarts, directing the Order of the Phoenix. You all know of course, that after Voldemort has returned from his—trip abroad, shall we say—he has threatened the Ministry several times with his campaign to lead the dark side to take over the Ministry and kill all muggle-borns."

Lily shivered against James' side, and it had nothing to do with the temperature of the room.

"Voldemort is powerful." Said Moody, speaking up at last. "I've fought him myself, and let me tell you this: He knows about Aurors and their schedule. As someone on the inside, I reckon he knows every time we're coming—this secret group should help that some."

Dumbledore nodded gravely. "I know I am being extremely cautious, but you must know: If anyone outside of our group finds out about The Order, we will be in extreme danger. Voldemort will find out, and he will come to kill you—Muggle-born or not."

Lily looked to her friends with wide eyes; now knowing exactly what Remus had been talking about this morning. This was definitely not all fun and games, but she was ready.

"When do we begin?" She said loudly, clearly. Everyone in the group turned to face her, then looked back to Dumbledore, expectant.

Dumbledore smiled over his half-moon spectacles. "Now."

"Patronuses." Moody said, hobbling along on his wooden leg. "Are what Dumbledore and myself have discovered will work the best for relaying secret messages to one another in the case of emergency." Moody breathed out, and started again. "These will be the first spells we will learn today. Now, a patronus—_listen up you, I'll only say this once!_" Moody snapped to Sirius, who was whispering to Peter. Sirius stopped immediately, looking quite nervous. "A patronus," Moody began again. "Is a complicated spell. I do not expect any of you seventh years to be able to do it at once. As for those of our members who can already do this spell, Dumbledore will be teaching you how to relay messages in your Patronuses." Dumbledore left with the group of teachers and Aurors, leaving the seventh years alone with Moody. "The incantation is '_Expecto Patronum!'_ it is a charm, and a tough one at that. They are usually used on Dementors, which Voldemort is using on his dark side."

Lily felt James stiffen beside her, gasping a little as he did so.

"Er, Professor Moody, if you don't mind me asking..." Lily raised a timid hand. "I thought there were Dementors guarding Azkaban? How can V-V-" She paused, taking a deep breath. She couldn't say the name just yet, but she would try in time. "You-Know-Who be using them on his side?"

"Ah," Breathed Moody. "A good question. Yes, the Dementors have all left their positions in Azkaban. Turned on the Ministry of Magic, they did. Minister's having Auror's guard the place now, and yes, a couple of Death Eaters have escaped." His knuckles cracked as he gritted his teeth angrily. They heard a couple profane words leave his scarred mouth, but no one said anything, letting him calm down. "Back to the Patronus Charm." He decided. "Story-telling is later on."

The group couldn't decide whether or not he was being sarcastic.

"A patronus is a positive force, and that is what Dementors feed on. Your patronus will be your shield against the Dementors, and the Dementors will feed off your patronus instead of you. Dementors are sick creatures... They don't have a sliver of sympathy or forgiveness in their bodies. If Voldemort has ordered them to feed off our members, you can't talk a Dementor out of that. It will go for you, and take away all the life of you, so that all that remains is an empty shell."

The seventh years all shuddered again.

"But your patronus will save you. The thing about a patronus is though; you have to conjure up your happiest memory in your head. If you're not absolutely thinking only positive thoughts, it will not work. So, I'll give you a moment to get your memory ready, then we'll begin."

The seventh years thought they'd heard wrong.

"Please, Professor Moody... A-aren't you going to teach us _how?_" Alice asked.

"I just did." Moody said firmly. "We're wasting time! Voldemort could break through those walls at any second and take over Hogwarts! We need to act now, and act fast!"

Lily thought it was quite hard to think of a positive memory with what Moody had just said still ringing in her ears, but she would try.

"Everyone's got their happy memory?" Moody asked impatiently.

The group nodded, pulling out their wands.

"I'll say it one more time: The incantation is '_Expecto Patronum!_' Although I do not expect all of you to get in on the first try, most of you should be able to conjure up a non-corporeal patronus. It will also be much easier in this bright room to make one, then if a real Dementor were bearing down on you. I'll ask Dumbledore to get a Boggart or something for the next meeting..." Moody said to himself. He looked up to the group suddenly, electric eye moving quickly, meeting every one of their eyes for about a second. "Go!"

Lily swallowed hard and thought hard about her happy memory. She smiled to herself as she thought of the time over Christmas Break when James had given her a promise ring. She looked down to it and grinned, focusing on the incantation, then being the first one to bellow: "_Expecto Patronum!"_

To her immense surprise—Moody had not exactly told them what a Patronus would look like—a silver doe leapt out from her wand and ran around, until eventually disappearing into nothing but air. Lily turned around, shocked, and saw surprised faces staring back at her. She broke into a grin, as Moody hobbled over.

"Very good work Evans." He grunted. Lily was surprised he knew her name. She turned to James as he still stared back at her, grinning fondly.

"Had to beat me to it, didn't you Evans?" He teased, messing up her hair. She pushed him away, laughing.

"I'd like to see you do it, Potter." She shot back, grinning. He came closer to her, then bent down so his mouth was right beside her ear.

"A doe, huh? I always knew we were meant to be together."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked curiously. He had a teasing lit to his eyes that she didn't like.

"Watch this, Evans. _Expecto Patronum!" _

And, just as Lily's had, a silvery animal leapt out form his wand, galloping around the room before vanishing into the air. She turned to him.

"A deer?" She said, impressed.

He bristled, and turned. "It's not a _deer_. It's a _stag_!"

"Well _la-di-da_!" She sung, patting him gently on the shoulder.

"A stag's much manlier than a deer!" He called after her, as she went to go stand beside Jane and Marlene. Out of all her friends, only herself, James, Sirius, the Prewett twins, and Benjy Fenwick had managed to make a corporeal patronus. All the other seventh years were making non-corporeal patronuses, but by the end of the meeting, everyone but Peter had managed to get it.

"Right." Moody said, looking at Peter's wisp of silvery substance that had floated out form his wand weakly. "You keep practicing. I need to teach the rest of you how to communicate through your patronuses. Now, communicating through your—_Black, how many times am I going to catch you staring down Smith's shirt?—_patronus is quite simple." Sirius and Marlene were both red in the face, Shawn was gritting his teeth, and Moody seemed oblivious to the awkward moment he had just created. "You say the incantation for the patronus, then point your wand to your mouth, say the message you want to be delivered, then point you wand back to your patronus—during this whole time, I hope you've still been thinking about your happy memory or it won't work—and finally, you say "_Finite." _That will let the patronus know you are finished speaking, then you simply have to think of where you want your patronus to go, and that's all. Simple, isn't it?"

Again, the group of seventh years could decide whether or not he was being sarcastic.

"Let's try that then." Moody said, sitting down in a chair and watching them stare at him in confusion. "Alright, pair up." He ordered them. James and Lily were a pair, Marlene and Jane, Sirius and Remus, Frank and Alice, Fabian and Gideon, and Caradog and Benjy were partners. They spread out, and began to relay messages to each other, realizing that it was in fact, quite simple. Peter was still having trouble with his patronus.

"No no!" Moody growled for the fifth time that class, as Peter messed up yet again. "It's '_Expecto Patronum'_, and the wand goes like _this!_" Moody thrust Peter's wand the right way. Peter gulped and tried again, with shaky hands. He didn't even make a small wisp of smoke that time. Moody sighed loudly, and hobbled back to his chair.

By the end of the meeting, everyone had managed to relay messages trhough their patronuses—well, everyone but Peter, who was flushed in the face and stumbling all over the place.

The older members joined with the seventh years as Dumbledore stood before them, smiling. "The Order of the Phoenix is quite small at the moment," He began. "If anyone knows of anyone else who might like to join—" Dumbledore broke off as Fabian and Gideon's hands shot up at the same time.

"Our sister Molly," Gideon began.

"She's got a fiancée too. He's brilliant." Fabian cut in.

"They don't care!" Gideon hissed to his twin.

"Well, you never know!"

"As I was saying, our sister Molly and her fiancée Arthur Weasley would probably like to join."

"Ah, Molly and Authur. Yes, I remember them. Of course they can join, if they'd like to. I shall owl them later on tonight. Does anyone else have any other suggestions?"

"'Ow come they're no Slytherins 'ere?" Caradog asked suddenly.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter snorted without humor. "Are you feeling alright, mate?" Sirius asked, touching Caradog's forehead with the back of his hand. "Not mental or anything, are you?"

"Geroff me!" Caradog shoved him away. Sirius laughed, straightening up. "I'm not mental, I'm jus' askin'!"

"The Slytherins all support You-Know-Who, you berk!" Sirius said.

"Sirius." Professor Dumbledore warned. "Innocent until proven guilty is a rule that we should all live by." Dumbledore changed topic. "Our next meeting will be scheduled for Tuesday. Same time, meet in here instead of outside of my office. Please don't be late." Dumbledore shot James' group a look, which James responded with a meek smile.

"See you all then, members of the Order of the Phoenix."

* * *

**AN: So! Er, yeah I liked this chapter. As you can see, it's the longest one yet. Hope it wasn't boring at parts! **  
**I've been getting a lot of questions asking how far I'm going to go with this and (as mentioned in this chapter), this story is now in _March_. Which means, our beloved seventh years have only 3 months to go! I _do_ have a lot planned, and I _do_ plan to write all the way up to their graduation. That's all I'm telling you though! ;)**  
**Hope you enjoyed, if you did, please review. Reviews are better than summer break coming early.**

**-Taylor :)**


	13. Angst Is Taking Over

**Big thanks to all my reviewers of the last chapter: jg13145, Ranma's girl1, ThatStrangeJilyShipper, CrayolaCreation, pixies114, Go . Marauders . And . Lily, violetrose, tryagain4me, and Cynthia!  
You all have no idea how happy I am to announce that this fic has made it to 100 REVIEWS (ok 103)  
Thank you all so much, I would be nowhere without you all. Sorry for the late new chapter :/  
That is all. Love you so much. Please continue to review :)  
LET'S GET ON WITH DA STORY, YES?**

* * *

"Somebody else has disappeared." Remus announced to his friends that day at breakfast.

Marlene bit her lip. "Anybody we know?" She asked, voice quivering.

Remus shook his head, but none of the friends smiled in relief by this news. This was the third person in two weeks to have disappeared. They knew it would only be a matter of time until it was someone they knew.

"Let's have a look." Sirius said, with as much nonchalance as he could muster. That's how most of the students at Hogwarts were dealing with this. Pretending it was nothing huge when in reality, they were all terrified it would be someone they knew next.

"Hey, I know who this is." Sirius told them, a crease appearing in between his brows. "It's one of my brother's old friends. He came over for Christmas once... years and years ago... they had a falling out shortly after that..." Sirius put down the paper gently. "I always wondered why."

James took the paper from his friend's shaking hands. He rubbed his chin, reading it. "Benjamin Morgan." He paused, thinking. "That name sounds familiar doesn't it?"

"'Course it does, he used to go to our school." Sirius ripped the paper back to his hands, which were now steady.

James looked at him. "No, it's not that..." He drummed his fingers on the table, thinking hard.

"Lisa Morgan." Lily said aloud, speaking for the first time in a while. "She's a second year in Ravenclaw."

At that, they all turned their heads toward the direction of the Ravenclaw table. It seemed all the people in her house's heads were turned towards the teacher's table. They looked over to see a small girl, braided pigtails in her hair, wiping her tears on her sleeve as she spoke to Dumbledore quietly. Dumbledore swept away from the teacher's table, leading Lisa Morgan out of the Great Hall. All eyes were on her as she wiped away her tears, crying silently.

Lily felt tears coming to her own eyes for this small girl who had just discovered her brother was missing. "W-what else does the paper say?"

Sirius looked at the paper. "Says here he was last spotted at the Ministry. That's where he works." Sirius told them. "Says: 'Benjamin Morgan walked into the Ministry of Magic that night, not knowing this would be his last night of work."

"That's terrible." Jane gasped. "Why would they write that?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Rita Skeeter. She's a new reporter and writer, bends the rule of writing a bit. The Prophet abso-_bloody_-lutely adores her."

"Continue Padfoot." Peter told Sirius anxiously. Sirius nodded and went on:

"'As he entered the Auror Department at such a late hour to drop off some papers for tomorrow morning, rumour states a Death Eater was lurking there after closing time, hoping to meet an Auror in the morning.'" Sirius changed back to his normal voice as he looked up to his friends in confusion. "Who do you s'pose he was looking for?"

James shrugged. "Maybe You-Know-Who's just trying to thin out his competition."

"That's one theory." Marlene spoke up. "Or maybe there's something in the Auror Department that You-Know-Who is trying to find."

"So it's either _who_ was he looking for, or _what_ was he looking for." Jane concluded, looking to each of her friends. "Which one was it?"

None of the Gyrffindors had an answer for that question. As they all looked around in confusion, Sirius smacked the paper down on the table. "I'm going to Dumbledore."

"No you're not." Remus pulled him back down, eyes narrowed. "He's tending to Lisa. And if you had just an _inch_ of sympathy, you'd let him."

Sirius pulled his arm out of Remus' hand, annoyed. "I forgot, alright?" He snapped.

"Forgot?" Remus laughed without humour. "It's _you, you, you_ isn't it, Padfoot? All the bloody time. I'm sick of it!"

James stood up at this, trying to break the tension. Jane followed suit, standing up, pulling Sirius away from Remus frantically.

"_Me, me, me?"_ Sirius asked, a look of pure anger on his features. His grey eyes were narrowed, teeth baring as he watched Remus. "That's rich coming from the bloke who broke up with his girlfriend because she chose her future over _him!_"

Jane dropped Sirius' arm by his side. Although the Great Hall was noisy, nobody in their group could hear anything but the painful silence that haunted their conversation.

"Stop!" Lily said suddenly, although no one was talking. "This is only happening because we're all stressed about the disappearances! You know you wouldn't say that otherwise!" She spoke to Remus and Sirius, who both suddenly looked guiltily at their feet.

"Sorry Moony." Sirius said.

"No it's alright. _I'm_ sorry Padfoot." Remus grimaced. "I was being a git."

Sirius grinned. "We both were."

Jane still stood there awkwardly, as everyone but James and herself sat down.

"Padfoot." James barked to his friend, who was punching Remus jokingly in the arm.

"What?" Sirius asked, turning to see James and Jane, still standing. "Shit." He cursed as he realized he'd forgotten something. He ran over to hug Jane. "Sorry Janey."

Jane nodded distractedly. "I er, have to go." She said, grabbing her book bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "See you in class."

Lily and Marlene groaned as they watched Jane walk out of the Great Hall. "You've done it now, haven't you?" Lily asked, punching Sirius in the arm. "You always have to fight below the belt, huh?"

Sirius was confused with this. "Fight below the... belt? W-what does that mean?"

Lily groaned again. "Muggle thing. It means you fight dirty. You couldn't just fight Remus like a regular bloke, no, you've got to bring in people who have done absolutely _nothing _to you." Lily was too tired to be angry, but her voice showed that she was exasperated.

"Gee, I'm sorry Lily. I've never really thought about that." Sirius admitted, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Well maybe you should've." Lily moaned, putting her head in her arms and laying them on the table. "These disappearances won't stop anytime soon, and we're going to have to fight through it. Somebody we know will go next, and just _imagine_ how we'll push through that. We've got to stay strong. Jane's sensitive," Lily motioned to the door. "She'll be like that all morning. You've got to apologize again."

It was Sirius' turn to groan now. "I hate apologizing."

Remus patted him on the back. "No you don't. You hate being wrong."

Sirius considered this. "I hate both." He paused, looking up at his friends. "What's with everybody reading me today?"

"Oh Padfoot, we've always read you like a book. We're just _telling_ you today." James told him, ruffling his hair.

"Oi, not the hair!" Sirius moaned. "I just _did_ that, Prongs!"

"_Eck!_ Use enough hair gel Padfoot?" James asked, rubbing his hand on his trousers.

"Not now I haven't." Sirius replied glumily. "I'm going to my dorm. See you lot in class." He waved, grabbed his book bag, and ran out of the Great Hall.

"And then there were five." Remus sighed.

"Don't listen to Sirius, eh Remus?" Lily lifted her head tiredly. "He's a git."

"So am I." Remus sighed. "The worst part is that he's right."

The seventh years groaned in unison. "You know that's not true Remus. You and Jane were having problems long before she told you about Romania. That was just the last thread to break." Marlene told Remus.

"I'm not sure if that's supposed to make me feel better about this, but it really doesn't, Marlene." Remus grimaced. "I'm a terrible person." He moaned into his hands, which were covering his face.

"You know what? I think you're right. I don't want to be you friend anymore." James said, standing up. "Do you, Wormtail?"

Peter looked up to James in confusion. "Wh—Oh!" Peter said, comprehension dawning over him. "Nah, sorry Moony. We're no longer friends."

"Et tu, Lily?" James asked his girlfriend.

"Sorry Remus. I am not a friend with gits." Lily wrapped her arm around James' waist. "Marlene?"

"Yeah, sorry Remus—"

"Alright, alright you've made your point." Remus interrupted, laughing.

"Aw c'mon Remus, the least you could do was let me finish my bit!" Marlene sighed, sitting back down.

"Sorry Marlene. Only so much a bloke can take." He smiled at her, then frowned. "I still feel horrible about what happened with Jane."

"Yeah, can we talk about that actually?" Lily said, turning to face Remus. "Why did you—you know. I never actually got to ask you, what with everything that's been going on lately."

"Er, yeah. Um... I guess things felt like I was the only one trying and er... okay no. Sorry. This is weird." Remus ducked his head down, and all his friends saw as his ears and neck turned red.

"The only one trying?" James repeated. "Meaning what?"

"Er, you know how in a relationship it's like, two people both have to give something, to get something...?" Remus was stumbling over his words as he tried his hardest to explain.

Nobody said anything.

"Okay. Good chat." Remus was red in the face again as he banged his head on the table.

"Oh Remus don't be so embarrassed!" Lily said exasperatedly, laughing.

"Well, it's not exactly easy to talk about Lily!" Remus said defensively. "And we've got class anyway." He pretended to wipe sweat off his brow. "Let's get going."

* * *

The five friends walked to Potions, meeting Jane and Sirius on the way. Jane was smiling at Sirius' jokes, a sign that made all her friends happy to see.

"Textbooks out!" Professor Slughorn ordered, as the seventh years settled into their seats in the dungeon. "NEWTs." He said the one word all the seventh years had been dreading. "They are coming up and as all of you need to pass your NEWTs to get the job that you want well, it's time to buck up and start studying."

Lily raised her hand. Slughorn smiled at her. "Yes, Lily."

"I was just wondering when we would get our NEWT exam schedules." She asked politely.

"Well, the schedules are not posted for public eyes to see until next week..." Slughorn lowered his voice. "But if you stay after class I may just let a few dates and times slip." He winked at her as she smiled back uncomfortably, but pleased at how easily Slughorn could be swayed.

"Draught of Living Death and Golpalott's Third Law. These are the names of the potions we will be working on today. You may recognize them from last year, as that is when you leaned them but seeing as they may just be on your NEWTs..." He paused, looking around the class. "Some recap may be needed. Take out your cauldrons, turn to page 216, choose your potion, and begin!"

* * *

"Which one are you going to do?" James whispered to Lily as they went to the cupboards to get the ingredients they needed.

"Living Death. I still haven't quite figured that one out yet."

"I'll do that one too, then." James decided, taking his ingredients over to their table and beginning to work cheerily.

* * *

In five minutes time, sweat was dripping down James' brow. "Why. Won't. This. Work!" He struggled, catching the sopophorus bean from sliding away for the millionth time. He heard a chuckle from in front of him and looked up angrily.

"Having a good time, Potter?" Severus Snape drawled, stirring his potion, which was now a light shade of lilac. James looked down to see his bluish-greenish potion, which resembled nothing like his book had predicted, and gaped.

"H-how'd you get yours to do that?" Asked James, looking to his left to see Lily was no longer there.

"Like I'd tell you." Snape rolled his black eyes. He looked around to see if anyone was listening, then walked closer to James. "Listen to me, Potter. I've seen you and your girlfriend wandering the halls late at night. Don't you _dare_ think I don't know what you're up to."

James laughed. "You're right Snape. I would hate for you to know about our Head Boy and Girl duties."

Snape smirked. "You're not fooling me with that, Potter. I've been listening in. I know it all. I could _ruin you."_

James blanched, spluttering. "W-well, it's not of your business anyway now, is it?"

"Oh, but it just may well be. Perhaps I should tell Dumbledore about your... secret meetings. I'm sure he'd love to know how Head Boy Potter has been disusing his privileges as Head Boy." Snape teased.

James relaxed a bit, forcing a grin on his face. "Oh, you go on and tell Dumbledore about my '_secret meetings'_, then. Tell him I say, 'hi' while you're at it, won't you?"

Snape glowered at James for a moment, then stalked away. Lily sat down beside James.

"What was that all about?" She asked.

"Nothing." James replied, changing the subkect. "Hey, how'd you get your potion to get to that colour, anyway?"

* * *

"Pack up, class! Great work Severus and Lily, for the only two who managed to create a successful Draught of Living Death! Study hard for the next class, there might just be a practice exam!"

The class groaned and emptied their cauldrons.

"Hey, wait." James paused, taking Lily's hand as she was about to empty her cauldron.

"What?"

"You should save some of that. It might be useful for... you know... The Order." He whispered, more on alert now after his discussion with Snape.

Lily's eyes widened. "Do you really think I should?"

"Definitely. You just never know out there, right?"

Lily smiled worriedly, taking out a flask and emptying her potion into it with shaky hands. "I guess we've got to think like that now, don't we? Always expect the worst?" She forced a laugh, and gulped on it halfway through.

He wrapped his arm around her reassuringly. "Just a precautionary measure." He paused. "But what's coming will come, and we'll meet it when it does." He paused again, a determined look on his face. "And we'll be ready for it."

* * *

**AN: How was that for the 100th review chapter?  
Angst is taking over Hogwarts. How will they all deal with that? Who will be the next innocent person to disappear? What will happen with the NEWTs? Are Jane and Remus _ever_ going to get back together?  
Questions I'd _love_ to answer, but cannot. Sorry loves! You can hate me in the reviews :)  
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next one should hopefully be up sooner. Thanks for sticking around. I promise it'll be worth it.**

**-Taylor :)**


	14. The Wedding

**Enormous thank yous to the amazing reviewers who reviewed my last chapter: ThatStrangeJilyShipper, pixies114, Go . Marauders . And . Lily, Cynthia, Ginny, and IllusiveButterfly.  
I really feel like I'm not fully coming across how grateful I am to have such amazing reviewers such as all of you, so please understand that I love you so much. You all motivate me to write more, faster and better! So thank you.  
On with this super-long (but super-quick update, no?) chapter :)**

* * *

"So James," Lily began, sitting cross-legged on his bed, watching him get ready for the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw that was starting in an hour. "I received some mail this morning."

"Oh yeah?" James deadpanned, searching frantically for his shin guards. "Lil, you haven't seen my shin guards anywhere have you?"

"Yeah. It was from my mum. And my sister."

"My shin guards?"

"The letter."

James snapped his fingers. "Right. Seen my shin guards anywhere yet?"

"You know how Petunia's been dating that bloke I told you about... Vernon?" Lily continued.

"Right. Vernon. Petunia. Shin guards?" James tore open his trunk, throwing things out desperately.

"Well, they've been dating quite a while now..."

"Shin guards, shin guards..." James muttered, looking around the room until finally deciding to duck under the bed in search for them.

"James, I get the feeling you're not listening." Lily said, hanging her head over his bed to watch him look.

"Where'd you get that?" James said, coming out from under the bed and shooting her a quick grin, before tearing into the bathroom. "Found one!" He screamed a second later, holding it up like a trophy. "Now where's the other...?"

Lily hopped off the bed and grabbed James by the shoulders. "James." She said firmly. He looked up at her finally.

"Yes?"

"Petunia and Vernon are getting married. We're invited to their wedding."

James raised his eyebrows. "I thought Petunia hated us."

"She did. She _does._ My mum probably forced her to let us come. Will you?"

"Will I er... what was the question?" James said distractedly, looking around the room again.

Lily groaned, still holding on to his arms firmly. "_Bloody hell _James, it's hanging on the back of your door!"

"The wedding?"

"_The shin guard!"_

James whipped around to the door, then looked back to Lily, kissing her forehead and grinning. "Yes, I will come to the wedding. And _yes_, you are my everything and I do not know what I would do without you."

Lily smirked. "The wedding's tomorrow, by the way."

"Sure." James said distractedly, putting on his shin guards. He stood up and put out his arms, smiling at her. "How do I look?"

"Like a champion, darling."

"Looking the part is half of the job."

"Meaning I have to look good for tomorrow because I'm the maid of honour?" Lily groaned into James' shoulder.

"Hey congratulations! Maid of honour, what an honour!_"_ James said, then paused. "But what do you mean '_tomorrow'?"_

Lily smiled. "I knew you didn't catch that bit. The wedding's tomorrow, champ." She patted him on the back, pushing him out of their room with her.

"Alright. I''ll be ready." James said, not missing a beat as he swung his broom over his shoulder. Lily was impressed.

"You'll be ready, huh?" She crossed her arms over her chest, walking down the stairs with him by her side. He was smiling to himself in a way that Lily did not like.

"Yep. I'll be sure to wear my dark blue dress robes with the dancing gold stars on it." He said.

"Don't forget the pointy hat." Lily deadpanned.

"It just completes the outfit, doesn't it?" James joked, then frowned. "Am I actually allowed to wear that to a Muggle's wedding?"

"James dear," Lily said, walking out of the common room. "You can wear whatever you like."

James smiled to himself. "Great."

"Because I already rented you a suit." She finished, smiling.

James exhaled, disappointed. "That's no fun, I won't stand out at all."

"That's sort of the point." Lily said. "But you'll have to be good if you're coming, alright?"

James groaned. "Then I don't want to come. _I_ hate weddings and Petunia hates _me_. It's a win/win deal if I just don't show up at all."

Lily gritted her teeth. "Oh no. You're not leaving me all alone at this crazy thing. I'll be warding off my creepy cousins all night as they try to ask me to dance." Lily snuck a look at James from the corner of her eye, wondering if her plan worked. It was James' turn to grit his teeth now. Lily smiled. Her plan worked.

"Fine." James grumbled. "But I'll be grumpy all day."

"You and me both, partner." Lily threw back. "Thanks, by the way." She took his hand in hers.

James looked at her desperately. "I'm going to regret this tomorrow, but you're welcome."

* * *

"Quite the match you had last night, huh?" Lily said, patting a bag of ice to James' forehead, where he now sported a huge, purple goose-egg bump.

James winced aloud. "What time is the wedding again?"

Lily checked her watch. "It starts at one. We've got plenty of time."

"We're apparating, I presume?" James said, wincing some more as Lily pressed the ice bag onto his forehead some more. "I'm cold."

"Yes, we're apparating." Lily kissed his injury gently. "Poor Sirius. He feels like this is all his fault."

"It's just a bruise. Nothing Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix in seconds." James frowned. "Not that I'm going to go to her. She's got enough troubles with half the Ravenclaw team in there with injuries and Justin and Alex from our team." He shook his head. "Intense game. Thank Merlin Justin managed to get the snitch before that Bludger knocked him off his broom or who knows how many injuries there would have been in that game by the time we finished."

Lily blew her hair out of her face as she watched him carefully. "You sure you're okay? I don't want you to faint or something at the wedding."

"Actually, I do feel sort of faint..." James grinned.

"You're fine." Lily said firmly, realizing her mistake. James just chuckled, laying his head down in his pillow.

"We really have to go?" James groaned into his pillow. "Just pretend you didn't get the invite." James snapped his fingers. "Blame it on the owls. Say they're known to eat the letters sometimes."

Lily rolled her eyes. "My mum would kill me if I missed Petunia's wedding. But James, you have to promise not to use magic. Seriously, Petunia would never forgive me."

James rolled his eyes now. "Oh come on! I could make her wedding so much _cooler_ if she wasn't so jealous of the fact that _she _can't."

"I think she mostly just wants a life like any one else." Lily said quietly. "And we've got to respect that. So if I see your wand at any time at the wedding..." Lily warned.

James raised his hands defensively. "I won't, stop worrying!"

"Alright." Lily relaxed somewhat. "We'll leave at eleven, we'll get dressed at my house—"

"In my suit." James grumbled.

"Oh, and you should do something with your hair."

"What's wrong with my hair?"

Lily gave him a look. He fell back, muttering about how he hated weddings as she paced around, suddenly feeling anxious. What if she messed up the whole wedding for Petunia? Her sister would never forgive her. And if Lily did a good job and acted normal maybe Petunia would give her a chance to be actual _sisters_ again. Lily sighed at the thought. Maybe they could go back to the way things were before Lily had gotten her letter from Hogwarts. This was her chance. She wasn't going to screw it up.

"And then maybe Petunia can come to our wedding!"

James sat up, eyebrows raised. "We're getting married now?"

Lily blushed. "It's a thought."

"A damn good one." James said, smiling.

"Really?"

James nodded. Lily walked over to sit on his bed with him.

"Look, maybe we should talk about that—" Lilt started, before James cut her off.

"Not today, okay? You're excited about the wedding and you want to have your own—which is great, and also totally predictable. See if by tomorrow you still want to get married and _then _we'll talk about it."

* * *

"Lily!" Lily's mother ran straight to her daughter with open arms, embracing her as soon as she stepped through the door to the kitchen. She let go, smiling at her daughter, then turned to James. "And you must be the famous James Potter." She said knowingly.

"Anything she told you is a lie." James said quickly.

"Oh I doubt that. The hair is _exactly_ how she described it." Lily's mother said, patting his head. He heard Lily groan quietly from beside him. He ran a hand through his hair nervously. As Lily's mum swooped in for a hug, she whispered in James' ear, "Don't run your hand through it. Lil hates it." She pulled back, smiling coyly, then walked to the stairs.

"Derek!" She called up the stairs. She turned back to James and Lily. "You two better hurry up, Lily you have a practice wedding in a half-hour. Your shoes, dress, makeup and James' suit are laying on your bed in your room." She spoke very quickly. She took a deep breath, steadying herself. "I'm Eleanor by the way." She said to James.

"And_ I'm_ Derek." Said who James presumed was Lily's father. "And _you're_ the famous James Potter."

"And everything Lily told us is true." Eleanor stage-whispered to her husband.

"Oh I don't doubt that. Look at the hair." He said back. He held out his hand.

James shook it, smiling. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you both."

"He's polite. How nice." Eleanor said to her husband.

"And a firm handshake." Derek commented.

James was smiling at Lily. Lily groaned. "I told you two to keep the strange comments to yourselves! Normal parents don't do that sort of thing!"

"We're not like normal parents, James." Derek said quietly, looking around. "But that mustn't get out. It's our best-held secret."

"I won't tell a soul." James crossed his heart. He threw his arm around Lily's shoulders. "I like your parents." He told her.

"As we like your boyfriend. Her last one was a right prat, wasn't he Derek?" Eleanor stuck out her tongue.

Derek nodded as James stifled a laugh. "John was perfectly nice!" Lily argued. "He just didn't understand your strangeness—as most people wouldn't!"

"Well James is the exception to the rule." Eleanor said to her daughter.

"I think you'll find with most things I am." James said mysteriously, chuckling.

"Enough lollygagging! Get moving!" Eleanor said suddenly, looking at the clock above the stove. "Oh, guests will be arriving in mere minutes!" She fretted around the kitchen as Derek followed her. Lily grabbed James' hand and led him up the stairs, taking two at a time. She pushed him into her bedroom quickly.

He took it in quickly, noting the colour of the walls and how messy it was. He smirked at her as she smiled sheepishly. "No time to make fun of my room. We've got to get dressed."

"Together?" James raised a suggestive eyebrow.

Lily rolled her eyes, ignoring him. "Take your time. I'll be in the bathroom, getting ready. Holler if you need me."

She grabbed her dress and makeup and headed for the bathroom, closing the door behind her. James shrugged out of his clothing and got dressed. He grabbed his tie and looked at the plain red with disgust. It was not his style, but he could fix that.

With a plan in mind to transfigure it to dark blue with dancing gold stars, he pulled out his wand and pointed it to the tie in his hand.

"Lily I need to talk to you about the wed—" Said a female voice as she stepped into Lily's room. She jumped at the sight of James, then her eyes narrowed on his wand. "You're not Lily." Petunia said accusingly.

"Observant, aren't you?" James said, watching as her eyes were steadied on his wand hand. "I know you don't like it so I'll just put it away then..." He lowered his wand and slipped it into his pocket.

"I thought you weren't allowed to do magic outside of school." Petunia crossed her arms over her chest.

"And it's nice to meet you too. I'm James Potter."

"I know who you are." Petunia shot back. "What I want to know is why you're using m-m-magic in _my_ house on _my_ wedding day. I was _specifically told_ numerous times that you're _not_ allowed to do magic outside of school. That was the only reason you were invited."

"I'm seventeen now and so is Lily."

"Good for you." Petunia deadpanned.

James rolled his eyes. He could suddenly understand why Lily hated her sister. "Once you're seventeen you're of age. You can do magic outside of school." He sighed.

"No, that's wrong. You're not of age until you're eighteen."

"That—as most everything else—is different in the wizarding world."

"Keep your voice down!" Petunia hissed.

"There's no one else up here."

"You never know! A guest could be using the bathroom!"

"Lily's in the bathroom."

Petunia glowered at him, then stopped. "Good. That's who I wanted to see anyway." She turned on her heel and marched out of Lily's bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Grouchy Muggle." James muttered, pulling out his wand again. The door burst open again, as the wand slipped form his hands in surprise.

"And if I see that _thing _anywhere near my wedding I'll have your head for it. Are we clear?" Petunia demanded.

"Crystal." James said sourly, bending down to pick up his wand. The door slammed behind him as he decided to go for a little more extravagant tie... just to piss off Petunia.

This wedding would be torturous.

* * *

"Nice tie." Lily commented on his flashing rainbow tie, walking into the room, putting on her earrings. "Do me up?" She turned her back to him as he zipped up her zipper.

"Nice dress." James commented on her pale pink dress, giving her a once-over. "You look beautiful, as always. I like your hair down better though." He frowned.

Lily frowned as well. "Me too to be honest, but Petunia says all the maids of honour have their hair up so I can't be the only one with it down."

"Or she thinks you'll be prettier than her on her wedding day. Which you _will_ be." James muttered.

"Met her, did you?" Lily said, applying lipstick in the mirror.

James choked on a laugh, nodding. "I had the pleasure."

Lily groaned, capping the lipstick. "S'pose you never want to come back, huh?"

"'Course I do. Your parents are brilliant. Your sister's a little mad, but now she'll be living with Vernon won't she?"

Lily brightened. "Hey, that's right! You can come all the time now!" Lily could imagine James and Lily's parents at the dining room table, eating dinner beside her, all like one big happy family. Or once James and her got married... they could inivte Lily's parents and James' parents to their house and have dinner all together. She smiled. She couldn't imagine a better future.

* * *

"Who has their wedding in April anyways?" James groaned, complaining for the umpteenth time that day. Lily stood beside him as she realized she should probably be with all the other bridesmaids, helping Petunia get ready. She shrugged; Petunia would probably shoo her away anyways.

"It's probably the wettest time of the year. What terrible planning." Said James, rolling his hazel eyes. James gasped suddenly, grinning evilly. "This isn't a shotgun marriage is it? You don't s'pose she's..." He mimicked a huge belly.

"What?" Lily gasped. "No! No, James!"

"Are you sure?" James taunted her.

"It's not." She said firmly. "They've probably been planning for months and months and they wanted an April wedding. Besides, it's _late_ April and look, there's not a gray cloud in the sky. They're seem like pretty good planners to me."

"Sheer luck." James muttered to himself, slouching in his chair.

"Lily! Where are you?" Lily's mother's voice rung through the crowd that sat in the white foldout chairs that were placed in their backyard.

"I'm here, mum!" Lily said, standing up to see over the crowd. James squeezed her hand. "Don't leave me. Please." He pleaded. She leaned down and kissed him hard.

"I'll be back before you know it. I promise."

"I'll hold you to that."

"I know you will." She winked, turning to run to her mother, who was shaking frantically, fixing all the bridesmaids dresses and hair, running back to Petunia after every fix. Petunia was smiling so widely that Lily felt genuinely happy for her older sister.

"Mum, calm down. It'll all be fine." Lily told her mother as she fixed her daughter's hair.

"I'm not sure about that, but just keep telling me and maybe I'll start to believe you."

Lily chuckled, walking up to Petunia. "You look beautiful, Tuney."

Petunia turned, looking surprised. "Wow. _Tuney._ Haven't heard that name since... forever."

"Are you nervous?" Lily inquired, brushing invisible dust off of her sister's shoulders.

"Are you kidding? I'm about to explode!" Petunia laughed nervously and it was the most human thing Lily had heard from her sister in a while.

"But you're excited, right?"

"Extremely." Petunia smiled. She was positively glowing. "I'm so glad I chose pink for the bridesmaids dresses. I was afraid to choose anything else incase is clashed with your hair but pink seems to go perfectly with it."

Lily was speechless. "You p-planned to have me as your bridesmaid?"

Petunia giggled. "Of course, you're my _sister_! Who else could I have chosen for my maid of honour?"

"I thought Mum forced you to invite me!" Lily admitted.

"To be honest, she _did_." Petunia giggled and Lily giggled with her. "But I was always going to invite you, no matter what."

Lily brushed away a tear that fell. "Oh my God. I can't cry, I'll ruin my makeup." She giggled again. "I've missed you so much, Tuney. We never talk anymore."

Petunia's eyes filled and Lily laughed out loud. "No! Don't cry, your makeup's perfect! I won't let you!" Lily said crazily. Petunia burst out laughing at her sister's crazy antics as their mother walked over, smiling.

"Petunia, darling... It's time to start."

Petunia's face drained of colour, but she swallowed and followed her mother, turning around once to wave to Lily. Lily waved back, shooting thumbs-ups, and followed the other bridesmaids to their spots.

* * *

"That was uneventful." James said to her at the reception after the wedding. They danced to a song called 'Stairway to Heaven'.

"She was beautiful, don't you think?"

"Speaking in third person again, Lily?" James said, squeezing her waist as they moved along the dance floor together. Lily giggled, shutting her eyes and leaning into him.

"I love you James." Lily sighed into his neck, swaying with him to the song. The moment was perfect. She couldn't wish to be with anyone else right then and there.

"I love you too, Lily."

Suddenly, they heard a loud crash. Lily looked over to see a lot of people who had stopped dancing to see what had finally gone wrong with the wedding. Lily mentally groaned. The wedding had been so flawless up until this point. What could've gone wrong now?

_"Stand aside! All of you! I only want to see Evans and Potter!_" A dark, voice hissed to the crowd. The crowd gasped in unison, parting until there was a clear pathway to where James and Lily stood. A cloaked figure began walking slowly, and Lily froze, taking James' hand. They both trembled at this foreign but familiar sight. They knew who it was. They knew—as several more cloaked figures appeared by his side, and the crowd was completely silent—what had come for them.

It was Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. And they wanted _them._


	15. The Lowest Point

**Enormous thank yous to the amazing reviewers who reviewed my last chapter: ThatStrangeJilyShipper, jg13145, Cynthia, pixies114, Maddiee, KayCal, Guest, katerinagrey, LumosWave99, WhitneyTrey, and jimmy!  
I actually have the best reviewers in the world, I can't express how much I love you through words...  
**

* * *

"James Potter and Lily Evans..." The voice hissed, slowly making its way towards them. The black cloak dragged across the ground as more Death Eaters appeared by his side, and more and more screams filled the air. "You are both part of an organization set to defeat me."

The Death Eaters beside him rumbled with chuckles. Voldemort silenced them with a wave of his hand, and the chuckled ceased immediately. It seemed like everybody had stopped screaming, but Lily didn't know because his voice was the only thing she could hear, ringing in her ears over and over again.

How did he _know?_

"I would like to know who is controlling this group." Voldemort continued, standing simply feet from them. "Tell me now and we will leave you in peace."

Lily's took a shaky breath. "We aren't part of any group." She said, voice trembling.

"Do not lie to me, _stupid mudblood_." Voldemort sneered.

"She's telling the truth." James spoke up angrily, pushing Lily slightly behind him. Lily shrugged out of his grip, not letting him stand alone.

"You are telling me that I have my sources _wrong?_" Voldemort asked, voice high and clear and piercing through the air. The Death Eaters began murmuring to themselves.

Neither James nor Lily said anything, as Voldemort silenced his Death Eaters.

"Have you got your wand?" Lily whispered—not even moving her lips—so only James could hear.

"Yes. Have you?" James whispered back.

"No."

"My lord..." A Death Eater spoke to Voldemort. Lily glanced around for the first time, noticing the music had been cut, and they were standing in the middle of a huge, empty circle, as guests crowded around the perimeter of it, no one daring to get too close. As the Death Eater murmured something to Voldemort, a voice rose above the silence.

"What's going on?" A female voice cut through the tense air. Lily recognized it at once, but couldn't find her vocal chords to respond back. A middle-aged woman with dark blonde hair stepped into the circle, hand grasping a middle-aged man's, whose salt and pepper hair had been gelled back for the occasion. Lily's eyes widened as they ran through the perimeter, stopping at the sight of the black-cloaked figures.

"Who are you?" The man began, walking straight into the middle of the circle. "I demand for you to get off this property, you are gate-crashing and I will have the police on the phone in seconds—"

His sentence was cut off as a jet of green light his him square in the chest. His widened brown eyes rolled back, and in seconds he was lying on his back.

Lily's mother screamed and faced the figure, to have her scream cut off by yet another jet of green light. The entire thing had happened in less than five seconds, but the image of what had just happened would never leave Lily's mind. It replayed over and over again on the backs of her eyelids as she squeezed her eyes shut, and then opened them again to see the same two bodies laying motionless on the ground.

Lily let loose a loud sob as she fell down to her knees. She crawled over to her parents and checked for a pulse. Nothing. She shook her father's shoulder. "Dad!" She leaned to her mother's body, seeing nothing but the whites of what once had been green eyes to match Lily's. "Mum!" She screamed desperately. She was unable to stop the flow of tears that came at the sight of her parents on the green grass of what was seconds ago a place of happiness. She had to look away from them, and looked instead up at the man who had just done this to her parents.

"They didn't_ do_ anything!_ Why did you kill them? WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU?" _She yelled, sobbing through her every breath.

Voldemort simply watched her, chuckling.

"_IS THIS FUNNY TO YOU?_" Lily screamed, balling up her fists in the grass and standing up. Her knees gave way and she fell back down, crying even harder.

Voldemort bent down so their eyes were level. For the first time she saw his face and as she stared into his red eyes, she lost control of her mind. She did the thing that seemed best to her at the time: she punched him. She hit him and kicked him in the shins without thinking—only knowing she wanted to cause him as much pain as possible. He backtracked from her, shrieking in disbelief.

"Filthy mudblood how _dare_ you?" He shrieked. He raised his wand as James fumbled with his. "_Avada—"_

_"Expelliarmus_!" James shouted loudly, and Voldemort-who was certainly not expecting a seventh year to cast a spell so powerful and at such a bold time-was sent flying backwards. Voldemort cracked his head on a nearby table and didn't get back up. As everyone looked from James to Voldemort, nobody knew what to do next. Nobody thought a seventh year would be the one to take down their master in one blow.

Then all hell broke loose.

Spells were cast everywhere, as Death Eaters shouted orders at each other. James and Lily ducked behind a table, wincing at the screams that echoed from the guests of the party.

"_Take the Dark Lord!"_ A woman's high-pitched voice shrieked through the crowd, silencing everyone at once. "_I'll_ get the Mudblood and Potter!"

As Death Eater after Death Eater disappeared—taking their master with them—the woman removed the hood of her cloak, and pursed her pale lips, smiling a knowing smile that could only be described as evil. She walked over and flipped the table Lily and James sat behind. She had dark black eyes that flickered between the two seventh years quickly, as if sizing them up but deciding what to do at the same time. She looked absolutely mental.

"Bellatrix." James said, eyes narrowed into slits. "Long time no see."

"Potter and Mudblood." Bellatrix sang, watching Lily as she sobbed quietly on the fresh-cut lawn. She bent down to eye-level just as Voldemort had simply seconds ago and sneered. "Poor widdle Mudblood." She said in a baby voice, taunting Lily. "Don't worry," Bellatrix changed back to her normal voice. "Soon you'll see your parents." She raised her wand hand, clucking her tongue. "I'm going to kill you now, Mudblood."

"_Expelliarmus_!" James shouted from behind Bellatrix, pointing his wand at her back. Lily watched in horror as Bellatrix contorted backwards in a way that was definitely not natural, and soon was out like a light. She felt arms tighten around her waist and she screamed, fighting to get them off her.

"It's me." James told her, out of breath. "I'm getting you out of here."

"No! Petunia!" Lily screamed, remembering her sister for the first time.

"Everyone's gone, Lily." James said quietly. Lily raised her head and saw that her parents lay alone on the grounds. Lily screamed again in agony as she felt her knees buckle again over the sight of her parents' dead bodies. She felt the tears stream down her cheeks as her vision grew blurry, watching them. It wasn't possible that they were dead—it just wasn't.

"I can't just _leave_ them!" Lily escaped James' grip, running over to them. She kneeled over them, tears splashing over their bodies. She gasped for breaths as she looked up to see James watching the place where Bellatrix lay. Lily cried harder and harder, lying over the bodies of her unmoving parents. Before she knew it, James was at her side, wrapping his arm around her side. She leaned her head on his shoulder, then hugged him completely.

Lily sobbed into his chest, feeling her lungs swell. He rubbed her back tenderly, hugging her back tightly. His warmth and the tightness of his arms around her made her feel safe and loved even though two of the people she loved the most had just died. Something swelled in her chest... it felt like _hope_. Maybe she could find hope through all this despair.

Seconds later she was pushed off James and she fell to the ground. She heard more screams and shouts of spells and looked up to see that Bellatrix had come to, her wand in hand and ready for battle.

"Crucio!" James yelled. Bellatrix screamed as the feeble spell missed her. She shrieked with laughter.

"No, Potter!" She screamed, laughing manically. "_I'll _show you how to use it properly! _Crucio!_"

James ducked out of the way of the spell. Bellatrix screamed in frustration as Lily slowly got up from the ground, seeing red. She wouldn't let the last person she loved die today.

"_Crucio_!" James dodged the spell again; he had landed right next to Lily. Bellatrix completely ignored Lily and thrust her wand straight at James' chest.

"_Crucio_!" Lily dove in front of him and keeled over in pain as she withered on the ground, screaming in agony. The pain was unlike anything she'd ever felt. She forgot where she was, and what was happening. It was similar, she assumed, to being stabbed repeatedly with blazingly hot knives, over her every inch of skin. She was sure he vocal chords were going to break at the screams she was torturing them with, but she couldn't stop screaming.

And then she could breathe again. She had stopped crying—she now only gasped for breath as she had to pry her hands—knuckles white—from the grass that she held on to so tightly.

"I've got her wand." James said quickly, cupping her face in his hands and watching her with short breaths. His hazel eyes were steady on her emerald ones, an impressive feat given the circumstances there were under. "Are you _mad _Lily? You could've gotten killed!" James scolded her, picking her up and sitting her on a chair.

"Better me than you." Lily breathed, barely able to speak. James sighed, hugging her tightly. He gave Lily the wand that he had taken from Bellatrix. Lily looked at it in her hands and a wave of anger spilled over her. She narrowed her eyes at the wand in her hands and snapped it into two, then looked down at James, who knelt beneath her.

"You stupid kids!" Bellatrix shouted, standing up seconds later, slightly disoriented. She looked around on the ground. "Where's my wand?" She demanded, cloak billowing around her as she searched frantically for it.

Lily held up the two broken pieces in her hands. Bellatrix screamed, running for Lily, hands outstretched, as if ready to strangle her with her own bare hands.

"_I've_ got the wand, Bellatrix." James stood in front of Lily just in time, pointing it down Bellatrix's neck. "So much as _look_ at her and I _swear_ I'll kill you right now."

"Like you have it in you." Bellatrix snorted, evidently not worried in the least, although breathing rather heavily as James held the sharp wand to her neck, pressing hard.

"I know people who will do it in _seconds_." James shot back, as Bellatrix licked her lips, grinning.

"You've defied me." Bellatrix watched James with slit eyes, but a wickedly crazy smile on her face. "I'll be back with a wand and we'll see who wins next time, Potter." She leaned around James to look at Lily. "And I'm going to kill you, little Mudblood, if it's the last thing I do." She cackled madly, then disappeared into a black vapour seconds later.

Lily was unsure of whether or not that was it. Had they seriously gotten past _Voldemort and his Death Eaters_? Was that even _possible?_

"Is she... gone?" Lily said shakily, gripping James' arm tightly. James wrapped both his arms around her and squeezed her tightly. She sobbed into his shoulder and he rubbed her back tenderly. She thought about everything that had just happened and she looked at the two bodies that lay on the ground, simply meters away from her.

And she just cried.

* * *

Then next thing she remembered was waking up in her bedroom. Not her bedroom at Hogwarts, but her real, messy, bedroom.

Had this all been a dream? Was it just the first day of seventh year, and this whole thing had been imaginary? Would her parents call her down for breakfast, yelling at her that she was late, again?

She sat up and saw James in the corner of her room, sitting in her desk chair, peacefully sleeping. She shifted, ignoring the longing pain that sat in her stomach. She felt like screaming. Everything was real—_everything had happened_.

The bed squeaked and James opened an eye, stretching.

"Hey." He said softly, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"I didn't mean to wake you up." Lily frowned, feeling tears brim her eyes. She couldn't do anything without hurting someone.

James stood up and joined her on her bed, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She cried into his shoulder, arms limp at her sides.

"Shh," James soothed, pushing back her hair. "It's okay, it's okay."

She leaned away from him. "What happened to my parents?"

"Er... Bellatrix killed—"

"No." Lily said forcefully, ignoring the dryness in her throat. "Where are they _now?_"

James opened and closed his mouth. "I-I'm not sure I understand. Are you asking me if they went..." He pointed up to the ceiling, looking at her carefully like she was a mental patient on the edge of suicide.

"_Are their..._ b-b-bodies... _still on my lawn?_" Her voice cracked despite the narrowed eyes at her boyfriend.

"No," James said slowly, as if she were a small child, who didn't understand what was going on. "People from the Ministry of Magic came to get them. You fell asleep."

"Ministry of Magic?" Lily repeated, then a thought struck her. "Where's Petunia? Oh my God, _where's Petunia?"_ Lily asked frantically, hopping out of bed. "_Petunia!_" She screamed through the hallways of her house. She ran down the stairs and skid to a stop in her kitchen.

She sunk to her knees on the kitchen linoleum, seeing how lifeless her kitchen was. Her kitchen was the room her mother had spent the most time in. She could seeher mother preparing pancakes and her father sitting at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper, and sipping his tea. She could see her mother calling her down for breakfast, and her father cleaning his favourite mug, so he could reuse it the next morning.

"Lily, a couple of people are here to see you." James said in the same cautionary voice he'd been using all morning, walking past the kitchen where she sat and opening the front door.

"I don't want to see anybody." She sniffed, wiping her nose on the back of her sleeve.

"But we want to see you." A familiar voice said. Lily looked up to see Remus walking through her front door, a sad smile on his face. He walked over and helped her stand up. He hugged her and let her cry on him for a long time. He finally let go of her, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"Don't cry, Lily." Remus whispered to her. "Be strong. I promise things will get better."

Lily wiped her eyes. "You promise?" She asked, as he laced his fingers through hers.

Remus nodded. "I promise."

Lily smiled sadly. That was the most comforting thing she'd heard all morning. Somehow Remus always had a way of saying what you needed to hear—whether it was what you _wanted_ to hear or not. She hugged him again and stood up from her kitchen floor.

"Hey Lily." Sirius said, wrapping his arms around her carefully, as if scared she might break. "James told us what happened." Sirius whispered into her ear. Lily snuck a look at James who now sat at her kitchen table, fiddling with his thumbs and staring out the window. He looked lost in his thoughts, and Lily wondered what he was thinking.

Marlene and Jane stood with her next after Sirius had joined Remus and James at the table. The three of them cried and wrapped their arms around each other, as if it were all their parents that were dead, and not just Lily's.

Lily's heart warmed at the sight of other people taking her parent's death like this. She was so happy to see that her parents had made such an impact on other people's lives... and not only hers.

"Thanks for coming." Lily said at the end of that night, seeing off her friends who had taken the Monday off of school. James had informed Lily that Dumbledore had granted them the whole week off of school, whether they wanted to stay here for a week or not was their decision.

* * *

Later that night after all their friends had left, James and Lily sat on the couch in the living room, staring into the fireplace. Lily had her head in James' lap, watching him yawn.

"You can go to bed, you know." Lily assured him. "Don't stay awake just for me."

"No." James refused tiredly, brushing her hair away from her face. "I'm not tired."

"Liar." Lily said, a sad smile on her face.

"Don't smile like that." James said. Lily sat up so she could see him properly.

"Smile like what?"

"Like you're sad."

"I am sad."

James opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and decided not to. "You know I'm always here for you, right?"

Lily smiled sadly again. "I know." She put a hand to James' face, and stroked his cheek. "I love you."

"I don't know what to say to you, you know." James admitted, touching the hand that was on his cheek. "To comfort you, I mean. I'm rubbish at it."

"Unimportant." Lily waved it off, sitting beside him and watching the fire with him. "Nobody can make me feel better now."

"Ever?" James asked, turning to face her.

Lily sighed. "I don't even know what joy _is_ anymore."

James frowned and wiped the tear that streamed down his girlfriend's face. "Don't cry."

"I can't help it." Lily smiled miserably. "No one can."

"Not even your amazing boyfriend?" James tried for a smile.

None came. "Not even him." She said without emotion, lying down in his lap again. "Go to sleep if you're tired."

"I'm not."

"Then don't go to sleep."

James frowned. "You don't want to talk anymore?"

"I don't want to do much anything anymore."

And that, James decided, was the lowest point he'd ever seen his girlfriend at. He knew she was trying to be dramatic or sappy; she wasn't the kind of girl who begged for attention—in fact, she hated it. She couldn't pretend she was taking this in stride anymore, though. She was exhausted and depressed and he hadn't a clue what to say to her.

He fell asleep within minutes of staring into the blazingly hot fire, nothing on his mind but Lily.


	16. Eventful

**~Yes, I changed the title to Eventful because that is what their Seventh year was~**

**Not writing a thank you because it is 3 am in the morning and I am going to pass out.  
But I thought you deserved a chapter.  
So here it is. There is extremely bad cursing near the end because I just wrote that two minutes ago and as mentioned earlier, it is 3 f***ing am.  
At least I censored it there, right?  
Yes, this chapter is all over the place. Yes, it is extremely long.  
Bear with me. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

James awoke on their fourth day off of school to a song he didn't recognize. He figured it was Lily who was playing the music and—although it wasn't particularly happy music—he hoped that meant she was feeling better.

_Yesterday... All my troubles seemed so far away..._

James stood from the couch, yawning. They had stayed up late last night again, and they had fallen asleep on couch. "Lily?" He called, rubbing his jaw. He looked around the room, stretching his arms. "Lil?"

_There's a shadow hanging over me... Oh, yesterday came suddenly..._

He walked past the fireplace, which was still lit. She was obviously awake. He pulled out his wand. "_Sonorus."_ He muttered. "Lily!" He tried again, his now-amplified voice probably audible to even the neighbors. There was no excuse to as why she hadn't heard him that time. He began to feel nervous as he stepped out of the living room and into the brightly lit kitchen.

He passed the kitchen in a hurry, but stopped in his tracks when he heard a faint sniff.

_Why she had to go, I don't know, she wouldn't say..._

_I said,_

"Something's wrong." James said to himself, walking around the island to see Lily. He breathed out a sigh of relief, but cut it short as he saw a dripping red knife in her hand. He dropped to his knees beside her, pulling it out of her reach quickly and throwing it across the kitchen floor. It hit the table with a _twang. _Lily quickly covered her arm with her sleeve only for him to see a deep red seep through the fabric. She began sobbing, as James yelled "_No!"_

_Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play... Now I need a place to hide away..._

"James!" A voice called. "James! Wake up!"

James blinked and in a second he was back on the living room couch, blinking back tears as he looked into the face of none other than a concerned but non-sobbing Lily.

"Lily!" He breathed out a sigh of relief, relishing the fact that as she hugged him, her sleeves were clean.

_Oh I believe in yesterday..._

"I—I had a dream! A t-terrible dream!" James choked out, laughing despite himself. He hugged her again as her red hair bounced in his face. "I'm so glad you're alright."

"What happened in this terrible dream of yours?" Lily asked, pushing James' hair out of his face. It was matted to his forehead with sweat.

"You—" He paused, hearing guitar. "Turn off that bloody music, will you?"

Lily frowned. "What's wrong with The Beatles?"

"Brings back bad memories." James shuddered.

"What bad memories could you possibly affiliate with _this?" _Lily asked.

James didn't answer; only stared at her until she got up and turned it off. She walked back to the couch, sitting down and watching him worriedly.

"Are you sure you're alr—"

"Lily?" James interrupted, as if he hadn't heard her starting sentence. She let it go.

"Yeah?"

"You wouldn't ever..." He seemed to be searching for the right word. "You wouldn't ever, for example, feel really low and not know what to do and then you'd have to resort to something that's really bad?"

Lily frowned anxiously. "What?" She said, after a long pause.

"What I mean to say is..." James paused again, searching. "You know I love you, right?" He blurted out.

"Yes..."

"And you know that I'd rather die than be without you, right?"

"No, I didn't know that."

"Well it's true."

"That's very melodramatic of you, James." Lily frowned, feeling slightly angry with him. He seemed to forget the fact that she had lost her parents just a few days ago, but you didn't see her jumping off any cliffs. "M-my parents d-died four days ago but I'm not going to commit suicide or anything. I mean, just imagine if—"

Her sentence was cut off as James hugged her around her waist.

"Er..." Lily began unnervingly.

"You couldn't be more right. I was just being melodramatic, like you said." James said quickly, kissing her on the cheek. "Want some breakfast?" He added, standing up from the couch.

Lily stared after him.

"Eggs and toast. Brilliant. You stay here, I'll make everything."

Lily continued to stare.

"I'll put back on The Buggles."

"The Beatles."

"Right." James agreed, playing the music again. "Stay here. Read. Dance. Do something. I'll be in the kitchen." He pointed to the kitchen. "Try not to miss me too much."

He ran out of the living room before anything else could happen. As he pulled the eggs out of the fridge, he was relieved that Lily seemed more like herself today. She still wasn't smiling, but she was playing music and talking in full sentences and hugging so he assumed that meant things were getting better. And for now, that's all he could hope for.

* * *

"Not bad for someone who's had house-elves working for him his whole life, was it?"

"Very nice." Lily agreed, sipping on some orange juice.

"How are you feeling?" James put his chin in his hands, watching Lily carefully.

She lowered her glass onto the table, ignoring the question. "You're sitting in Petunia's spot." Lily remarked.

It took a moment for James to understand what she meant. "Oh," James raised his hands, looking down at his chair. "Sorry, should I sit somewhere else?"

"Nah," Lily said. "Better you sit there than at their spots. Especially because you look like my dad."

James thought he'd heard wrong. He pointed to himself. "_I_ look like your dad?" Lily nodded. "You are telling me that I look like a middle-aged man with graying hair and a thinning hairline? Are you _joking?"_

Lily giggled behind her hand. "Well, you do!"

James grinned back, realizing this was the first time she'd smiled since the wedding.

"You are absolutely amazing, Lily Evans."

"As are you, James Potter."

"I want to kiss you right now."

"What's holding you back?"

"People don't usually enjoy kissing their dads."

Lily laughed. "Oh shut up, you." And she rose from her chair and he rose from his and they kissed in her kitchen with the sunlight streaming in through the open windows. And suddenly Lily felt a weight lift off her chest as she looked around the kitchen that held so many memories. All the memories had been dark and shadowed over the past few days, but now they were clear as day. She could hear her father laughing and see her mother smiling and it felt like they were in the kitchen again, watching over her and James.

* * *

Lily mourned over her parents for the rest of the week with James. They were serious and yet silly, for Lily knew this was what her parents would have wanted from her. She couldn't let herself be sad over the death of them... not when her final day could be coming any time now. She had to live the life she was given and help The Order defeat Voldemort once and for all.

She returned to school after their week had passed, feeling sad but happy at the same time. Of course she replayed her parents' death in her mind and imagined every day what she could've done differently but she couldn't help that. She never would be able to help that. All she could do was work to help take down the man who had killed her parents.

So that is what she did.

* * *

Lily didn't expect all the 'best wishes' and 'apologies' that she got at school and to be quite honest, some of them sounded downright silly, but she thanked every one of these people, appreciating that they took the time to say it anyways.

If you'd thought last week's turn of events had changed the life at Hogwarts, you were wrong. NEWTs were still on, graduation was still rapidly approaching, and Order meetings were getting tougher and more frequent than ever. Basically, life was hard for these seventh years... but they pushed on through.

"What's on for today?" James would ask Lily every morning, clenching his toothbrush between his teeth as he watched her in the mirror.

"Order after dinner, then rounds after Order." She would reply, brushing her tangled hair from her tired face. She yawned, leaning on the bathroom counter for support.

"You look tired." He noticed.

"I am tired." She quipped back, shutting her eyes for a few seconds, then recovering, staring at the dark circles under her eyes. "I feel like hell."

"Look like it too." James smirked, spitting out his toothpaste. He wiped his mouth, grinning, while she retaliated by taking out her wand and squirting him with water.

"Don't be rude."

"Don't be sassy."

Lily frowned, then giggled. "Did you just say 'sassy'?"

"Yep." James dried himself with his wand. "Word of the day."

Lily smirked tiredly and walked out of the bathroom, not yet ready for the long day that lay ahead of her.

* * *

"Merrythought will never forgive you, but so what?" Marlene said to Sirius and James as they made their way to their next class. As Sirius and James chuckled and high-fived each other, Remus rolled his eyes.

"What's up your arse, Moony?" Sirius asked.

"I wish you two would stop being so selfish, that's all."

"Selfish?" James gasped, putting a hand to his chest. "Like a dagger to the heart, Moony! How on earth are Padfoot and I selfish?"

"They are other people in the class who are genuinely worried about the upcoming NEWTs and you two are being the usual gits and setting Pansy's desk on fire!"

Sirius stifled a laugh. "He deserved it. He went on and on about how he was better than us—he simply asked for it."

"Or he baited you to get you in trouble. Who's won now?" Lily smirked, nudging James in the side.

"Still us. His notes were on that desk. Worth the detentions, no question." James said confidently, high-fiving Sirius again.

"Honestly," Lily sighed under her breath. "It's like we're back in first year."

"Don't be sassy." James muttered back.

* * *

"What a day." Peter sighed, sitting down at the Gryffindor table for dinner.

"And it's hardly half-done." Jane remarked. "The Order will be the death of me." She groaned.

"Ignoring the double meaning..." Sirius sung, tucking in to his food. "This looks delicious."

"As he says everyday." James said, chuckling.

Marlene glanced at her watch. "We haven't got much time to eat."

"Best stop worrying about the bloody time and eat then, eh?" Sirius grabbed her wrist and put it below the table.

"Good idea, Sirius. Yeah, maybe we can just all forget about the time and stuff our mouths like you. Then, when no one looks at their watch, we can all be late to The Order, and have Moody giving us the evil eye for the rest of our lives." Lily said sarcastically.

"Sassy _and _melodramatic. You're on a roll today, Evans." James said.

* * *

"Straighten up and fly right, Potter." Moody growled. James adjusted his posture in his chair, feeling all eyes in the room on him.

As Moody hobbled around, all the members of The Order sat around him in a circle, watching him. The Order had expanded by now, leaving them with much less one-on-one time, and more group work. Which was fine for the adults of the group, but the seventh years struggled to no end, trying to keep up while Moody stayed oblivious to their obvious efforts.

* * *

"Time to take a break." Dumbledore would say, for Moody would never stop hobbling around the room and breathing down the seventh years' necks as they attempted to do the spell correctly under his intimidating gaze. They would breathe a sigh of relief and shoot a grateful smile in Dumbledore's direction, before sitting back down in their chairs and talking for a bit. The adults would continue on training, and the seventh years would watch them, picking up hints and tricks to improve themselves. All in all, The Order was almost more beneficial than school. They learned things in here that they would have never learned anywhere else. The adults often times forgot that they were speaking to seventh years when they would blurt out something the latter probably should not know, then blush while the seventh year grinned.

Things were looking good for the members The Order. They got together two or three times a week, and if they ever missed a meeting—which barely ever happened—they would get caught up from their friends. It was slowly turning into the best thing that the seventh years had ever done.

"I think that'll be all for today." Dumbledore said over the crowd, smiling warmly. "You all worked tremendously, and we will meet again on Tuesday, at the same time. Thank you, and goodnight."

The seventh years shuffled out, talking amongst themselves.

"Mine was better!" Fabian argued with his twin.

"Rubbish!" Gideon argued back.

Marlene rolled her eyes, hands linked with Shawn's. "Gits." She muttered while passing them.

"Got a problem, Smith?" Fabian called after her.

"Two, actually." She smirked, looking from Fabian to Gideon. Shawn snorted beside her.

"You think you're clever." Gideon said.

"It was pretty clever, you have to admit." Fabian said, turning to his brother thoughtfully.

"Oh, I'm not saying it wasn't. It's just that—"

"_She_ knows it. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."

"Of course you were, Fabian." Shawn muttered.

"Aren't they always." Marlene chuckled, pulling him by the hand away from the arguing twins and to where her friends stood.

"Well, we'll be off then." Lily said, taking James' hand.

"Off to do some snogging?" Marlene guessed, stepping into the group.

"Not even close."

"Though it could lead up to that." James said.

Lily threw him a look.

"Don't be sassy." He told her.

She threw up her hands and walked away. He laughed with his friends. "She's so sassy today."

"I was going to ask, what is with you and the word sassy? I don't think you've ever used that word before today, Prongs." Sirius remarked.

"Word of the day, Padfoot." He said, then saluted them to go off to find Lily.

* * *

"'Bout time." Lily said dryly, as James rounded the corner and finally spotted her.

"Don't be—"

"Don't tell me what to do." Lily cut him off. James grinned.

"Touché."

Lily smiled back, then sighed. "I'm bored."

"Wow, a whole ten seconds and you're already bored? That's record-breaking, that is."

"Don't be sassy." Lily quoted, grinning.

"Don't tell me what to do." James quoted back, laughing.

* * *

"Snogging, what fun." A voice drawled from the right, as Lily broke apart from James, blushing. It took a moment for the figure to materialize, but once she saw who it was, her eyes narrowed.

"You shouldn't be out this late, Snape." She said icily.

"And you shouldn't be snogging while on duty. You don't report me, and I don't report you. Goodnight." He turned on his heel to leave, cloak billowing from behind him.

"Snape!" James called after him. _"Snape!"_

Snape turned around, facing James with a sneer on his face. "_What,_ Potter?"

"Why are you out so late?"

"Midnight stroll." Snape replied. "That is all?"

"Not quite." Lily stepped in. "Why are you roaming the sixth floor? I know for a fact that the Slytherin dorms are in the dungeon. This is quite the journey for a midnight stroll." She raised a curious eyebrow.

"Yes, it is." Snape agreed. "Anything else?"

"Don't be sassy." James said.

Snape's lip curled. "I don't need to stay here. I haven't done anything wrong."

"Midnight strolls are clearly prohibited. We can sometimes make exceptions if it's someone we like, but in this case..."

"James, stop." Lily said. "Snape, why are you here?"

"Mid. Night. Stroll."

"Got that part." Lily clucked her tongue impatiently. "Why are you on this specific floor. Better yet, in this specific corridor?"

"Because I walked here."

"I thought you were strolling." James sung, teasing him. Snape's lip curled again, ready to quip something back, before Lily stepped in between the two boys.

"Honestly," She pleaded James. She turned to Snape. "We'll have to report this to Dumbledore if you can't give me a valid excuse for wandering the sixth floor at this time."

"I've given you a valid excuse. You've just chosen to ignore it."

"Get out of here." James said. "Go back to your common room. If you're still lurking about, I'll know. And I'll tell Dumbledore."

Snape rolled his dark eyes at the pair. "Okay." He answered back, seemingly not worried about the threat. He turned on his heel again.

"Wait, Snape!" Lily called again. Snape stopped but didn't turn. "Why aren't you in your pajamas?"

Snape looked down and realized that he was in fact still wearing his robes. "Forgot." He said over his shoulder, then continued his walk back to his common room. As soon as Snape was gone, James pulled out his Map.

"He'd definitely headed back to his common room." James told Lily. "But why was he out, anyways?"

"And how did he know we were here? He must've followed us or something."

James frowned. "You think he followed us here?"

Lily shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, shit James. We've been talking about The Order this whole time. He's bound to have heard if he's been following us the whole time."

James' eyes widened.

"What?" Lily demanded.

"Um. Snape may have warned that he had something on me."

"What?" Lily cried.

"Well I didn't think anything of it at the time!" James said back desperately. "I didn't know he actually knew something."

"James, this means we know who told Voldemort about The Order."

"Woah." James held up his hands, silencing Lily. "You can't be serious. You think _Snape _has been telling _Voldemort_ about _us?"_

Lily nodded. "Who else could it be?"

"I... I don't know." James squeaked. "But that's... that's a reasonable argument I suppose. We should go to Dumbledore with this information straight away tomorrow morning."

Lily shook her head sadly. "He's away, remember? He won't return to Hogwarts until Tuesday."

"So we need to find out what's going on between Snape and Voldemort." James decided.

"And how are we going to do that precisely?" Lily put her hands on her hips, staring at him as if he was delusional.

"Your sass isn't helping..." James murmured, turning away from her to think. Lily threw up her arms in defeat and chuckled.

"Well, as you do that, can I see the Map?" She held out her hand. James took it out of his pocket and handed it to her without looking at her. She unfolded it.

"Hey..." She started. "He's not back in his common room."

"He's not a very fast walker."

"He's not _headed_ in the direction of his common room."

James looked up.

"And he's with Avery and Mulciber." Lily's brow furrowed in confusion, staring at the Map.

"What?"

"That's not all..."

_"What?"_

"Rodolpus Lestrange is there as well."

* * *

"You go get McGonagall. I'll go see what's up."

Lily grabbed his arm. "Hold it. You think I'm going to let you go there all alone?"

James sighed as Lily continued on about his safety and how they had to stick together.

"Finished?"

"Yes."

"Right. You go get McGongall..." James whipped the Map from his girlfriend's hands and walked into the direction of the three seventh years and Rodolphus Lestrange. He heard footsteps thudding from behind him and sighed. "Right. No teacher supervision it is, then."

"What d'you reckon he's doing here?"

"Speaking with Snape, Avery and Mulciber."

"About?"

"Dunno. But it can't be good."

Lily agreed to that and followed James as their pace turned into a light jog. Soon enough, they reached the corridor that the four blokes occupied, and stopped.

"Wands out, d'you reckon?" James whispered.

"Better safe than sorry." Lily agreed, pulling out her wand from the insides of her robes. Her stomach was full of butterflies and she squirmed at the thought of seeing Rodolphus Lestrange. He was a recognized Death Eater and just knowing that he was probably part of the crowd that had been at her sister's wedding... Her heart dropped all the way down to her stomach. The reminder of that terrible day was brought back to the front of her memory. A tear slid down her cheek.

James—without seeing her tears—grabbed her hand and turned the corner. She saw them and every part of her screamed to run away, but James kept on pulling her forward—and she was glad he did. Gryffindor bravery be damned—in that moment, she felt anything but brave.

Rodolphus suddenly grabbed Avery by the robes and pulled him up close to his face. He had on a black cloak but the hood was down. There was no question that this man was the man she'd seen Wanted posters of.

"Alright, boys?" She called to them. She didn't even know what made her say it—perhaps surged with adrenaline?—but it was probably not the right thing to say.

Rodolphus—still holding on tight to Avery's robes—whipped his head around to face them. The circles under his beady, blue eyes made him look tired and old. He pushed Avery to the ground and stepped away from the three seventh years.

"Leave." He growled.

The word was scary and intimidating, and Lily wanted nothing more than to abide to his orders, but James stood tall and—seemingly—unafraid.

"You're out of bed after hours." James said to the three seventh years, ignoring Rodolphus completely. "The Headmaster _will_ know about this."

Avery, Mulciber and Snape shook in their boots, faces white. They nodded to James. "We-we'll be off now." Mulciber stuttered.

Rodolpus stuck out his clunky boot and Mulciber tripped and fell on his face. Snape and Avery's eyes widened at Rodolphus, and shrunk back to the stone wall. Mulciber crawled over to join them.

"Now, you, I'm not sure how to punish." James started, speaking to Rodolphus. The three seventh years that stood by the wall shook their heads frantically at James, as if warning him that his confident ways would not work this time.

"I am going to give you one more chance." Rodolphus growled again. His voice sounded like sandpaper. "Leave."

"Because, if you were a student, I'd just report you to the Headmaster." James went on, gesturing to the three boys standing at the wall. "But... you're not a student, are you?" Said James. He snorted. "Unless you've been held back that many times."

Rodolphus' hand twitched to his robes. James was faster. "Do not think about it." He warned, pointing his wand, then went on: "Now, generally, there are only students and professors in the school, and obviously," James chuckled. "I can't punish professors. But I'm at bit of a loss with you. What to do with you?"

Rodolphus wasn't having any more. He whipped out his wand and pointed it right at James. "Don't make me use this."

"I won't make you do anything. If you'd just have the restraint in yourself to control your anger management issues then maybe—just maybe, we'd—"

James blocked the spell with ease that Rodolphus shot his way. James tsked. "Aiming curses while I'm mid-sentence? Rude."

Lily got a grip on herself and stepped in to help James. "Explain what you're doing in Howarts. Do you have anyone's permission to be here?"

Rodolphus looked at her angrily. "Don't enter a fight that's not your fight, sweetums. I would've thought you'd learned that much from your parents."

That's when things got wild. Lily threw the first curse—which Rodolphus blocked. He made an embeliishment with his wand but James struck him before he could use it. Rodolphus turned on James, and Lily disarmed him. Rodolphus breathed heavily, wondering if they would curse him while he bent down to get his wand.

"Going to kill me, kids?" He said, snorting at them. "How old are you again? Let me guess—"

"Of age." James interrupted, thrusting his wand for effect. "No trace on us. No one would even have to know that you'd been in the school in the first place. You'd just disappear. Poof."

Lily felt uncomfortable by this thought. "You should leave." She said, not wanting things to get out of hand. She knew when boys got riled up things could get serious, _fast_.

Avery scuffed his shoes from his place at the wall and the three heads of the wand bearers turned. Avery flushed red, then went completely white. Lily had forgotten the three Slytherins were here as well.

"Leave. All three of you." Rodolphus barked at them. Avery and Mulciber sprinted away, but Snape stayed. Rodolphus raised an eyebrow. "Snape." He barked at him.

"And what will you tell him, exactly?" Snape countered. It was not quite as confident, and lost most of the effect in his height compared to Rodolphus, but the Death Eater seemed speechless anyways. "You will tell him it's exactly as I told him before. They lied, and I was right."

Rodolphus nodded distractedly. "Right. Okay." He turned back to the Head Boy and Girl, whose wands were raised but quivering with confusion, as their heads turned from Snape to Rodolphus. "Goodbye."

James snorted as if Rodolphus was not going to get away that fast, but apparently, James was mistaken because Rodolphus departed in a smoke of black, leaving the corridors dark and foggy.

"James?" Lily coughed, putting out her hands. She felt a wall. "Severus?" She called worriedly. She didn't know why she was worried, nor what had made her call him by his given name. She just quivered from head to toe in worry and shock.

James felt his way to her voice, gripping her shoulders. "You alright?" He asked.

"Fine. Where's Severus?"

"Gone. Bloody coward, I saw him duck out as Rodolphus threw up that black smoke thing."

"Are you sure he's alright?"

James paused. "You alright?" He asked again.

"Yes, I'm bloody fine!" Lily said, hugging him round the middle as the fog and smoke dissipated. "You?"

"Never been better!" James laughed. Lily tried to smile back but she couldn't. The comment about her parents was still ringing loud and clear in her ears, and she felt ashamed and embarrassed that she couldn't even bring herself to hurt this man... who had done _so much more_ than hurt her parents.

"We need to see Dumbledore!" James yelled. Lily squeezed him one more time, mostly for comfort. He held her tightly back, and the security that she craved washed over her for a few seconds of absolute perfection.

Then he let her go and took out his map. He groaned loudly, cursing. "Damn it, he's gone, I forgot!"

"McGongall, then!" Lily decided, seeing her in her office, sitting at her desk, most likely preparing the next lesson for the OWLs or NEWTs that were coming up. She looked to James for agreement, but he was staring at the Map in disgust.

"God fucking damnit." He swore. Lily arched her brows.

"Problem?"

"Two."

"Who-?"

"Fucking Fabian and Goddamnit Gideon."

James tended to curse in every sentence when he was tired.

* * *

Lily sighed as she went on, repeating the usual punishment for wrong-doers. "You will have to speak to your Head of House tomorrow morning, and they will decided your punishment."

"Cool." Gideon and Fabian said.

"Uncool you tits." James grimaced. "Because we need to escort you there."

"Oh, don't feel you need to." Fabian told them.

"I think we know the way after all these years."

"It's non-negotiable." Lily told them seriously. "We need to escort you there."

"Right." The twins said in unison.

James and Lily sighed. "Do you ever get tired of saying the same thing?"

"At the same time?"

"And finishing each others' sentences?"

Fabian and Gideon exchanged looks of complete pleasure. "You two—" Fabian began.

"Just did it—"

"Yourselves."

"Bloody goody for us." James turned away from them. "Stop pranking Filch. A better target is Peeves. He's fucking hilarious when you get him good."

"Thanks for the tip."

"Anytime."

"Sassy." Fabian and Gideon remarked together.

James threw Lily a disgruntled look.

And with that, the Head Boy and Girl headed to their dormitory, passing out on their beds without so much as changing or brushing their teeth.

* * *

**AN: Told you it was all over the place. It's taking everything in me not to swear in this Authour's Note, and I'm extremely sorry if I offended anyone with my unladylike language. Bad Taylor.  
But seeing as it's 3 *censorship* am, it gives me an excuse, right? Okay. Right.  
So peace out, homies. And I hope you review even if my cursing made you gasp in horror. Sorry. Please review. Pls.  
K I love you all. I promise to do a shoutout to reviewers next chapter. Just... I'm tired. Why am I still writing? I don't know. Bye.**

**How pathetic.**

**-Taylor :| (even my happy face is pathetic).**


	17. A Week Until

**HUGE THANKS TO: katerinagrey, ThatStrangeJilyShipper, pixies114, Go . Marauders . And . Lily, willtheranger, jg131445, VioletRose, MaddisonPotter, tryagain4me, Cynthia, Eldar-Melda, JAYLOR, LoneElfFlight, & NyappyChi !  
Sorry for the late update but I made sure to post this as soon as I finished it! I hope you all enjoy :)**

* * *

"NEWTs are in precisely a week, students!" Professor McGonagall shouted over her rowdy class. All the seventh years quieted down immediately. "As I do not want to see any of your faces in this class again next year, it might be a good idea to start the work I gave for you."

The class got to work instantly, leaning over their desks to write their essays. Remus wasn't there because it was a full moon tonight, and Lily was constantly worrying about James on full moon nights. Besides the fact that she was stressed about that, she was also stressed about the NEWTs, which were in a _week, _and after class she and James had decided to talk to McGongall about their meeting with Rodoplus Lestrange last night. It was no wonder her hands were literally making it impossible for her to write the damn essay with all their shaking and quivering.

"Class dismissed. Hughes, I would like to see you in detention after classes today." Professor McGongall announced as class was over. As the students began to file out and walk to their next classes, James and Lily waved on their friends and began walking to their professor's desk.

"Professor," James began, clutching his bookbag and shoving his papers into it lazily.

Professor McGongall rolled her eyes. "Potter, you will _destroy_ your notes when you need them the most."

James paused, then shoved them in there anyhow. Professor McGongall sighed, then put her chin in her hands. "How may I be of service?"

"There's really no other way to put this..." James began uncomfortably, looking to Lily for assistance. They really hadn't had the time to think about how they were going to tell their professor that they had came in contact with a Death Eater last night.

"We saw Rodolphus Lestrange last night." Lily blurted out, just as James opened his mouth to speak.

Professor McGongall raised her thin eyebrows, causing her forehead to wrinkle in concern. "Rodolphus Lestrange? Why th-that-that's preposterous Ms. Evans why in the world would you say such a thing?"

"Because it's true, Professor McGongall!" James jumped in, taking over. "We were just doing rounds last night and we saw him in the corridors!"

"Just strolling around Hogwarts in the dead of night by himself?"

"Well, er—no." James stuttered, looking to Lily again for help. They also hadn't agreed on whether they were going to tell their professor about the three boys who had accompanied the Death Eater last night.

"He er—was with—" Lily coughed. "Um, Snape, Avery and Mulciber?" She said in a small voice.

McGongall's eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hairline. "You two—Head Boy and Head Girl _might I add_—are telling me that you saw Rodolphus Lestrange—a known and extremely dangerous Death Eater—in _Hogwarts_ last night with three Slytherin boys?"

Lily and James nodded in unison.

"Really!" McGongall sighed impatiently, shuffling the papers around on her desk. "I have had it up to here with your tall tales, Mr. Potter! And Ms. Evans, I really expected more from you!"

Lily gawked at her professor feebly, speechless.

"And please, stop bringing Severus Snape into these so-called crazy schemes Mr. Potter, I'd thought you'd have learned by now! I don't care much about the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor—in fact, I don't care much about yours and Mr. Snape's rivalry either. With every new story you come up with, ho do you ever expect me to believe you if you're telling the truth?"

James choked a little on his words before spitting out: "Please Professor, you've got to believe us! I swear this isn't a joke or a prank or something! Please, we're telling you the complete and honest truth!"

Professr McGongall must've seen something in James' eyes because suddenly, she turned pale white. "Y-you're sure?" She asked.

James and Lily nodded briskly.

She put a hand to her forehead, staring at them both. "You are taking this too far for it to be a prank."

"That's because it's not a prank Professor!" Lily cried. "We saw a Death Eater roaming Hogwarts halls yesterday and somehow, he got away! Now I know that you cannot apparate—"

"Or dissapparate," James cut in desperately. "Inside of Hogwarts so the question now is: What is he doing here and how did he get in?"

"And out?" Lily finished.

Professor McGonagall looked up at them dreadfully. "You realize if I choose to believe you, I am betting a lot on two Seventh years, don't you?"

"We're not lying, Professor, it's the truth!" Lily said frantically.

Professor McGonagall rose from her chair and cut past them quick. The two seventh years followed her all the way to Dumbledore's office. "Chocolate truffles." McGonagall said to the two stone gargoyles. They leapt away to let the three enter, who were now walking faster than ever.

Lily and James watched their professor talk to the portraits, asking where the Headmaster was.

"He's currently at the Ministry." A portrait replied. Professor McGongall put a hand to her forehead, turning back to the seventh years.

"I suppose there's really no reason to be rushing if you're sure he got away." She sighed, transfiguring three chairs for them to sit in. Lily and James sat down and stared at their professor, not knowing what to do next.

"You believe us don't you?" James asked.

McGongall nodded, shutting her eyes for a long time. When she finally opened them, she asked to hear the full story. And so James and Lily told the story, careful to include every piece of information.

"He just... disappeared? Just like that?"

"Puff of black smoke and he was gone." Lily said sadly. "There was nothing we could do, professor. I'm so sorry—"

"Please, don't apologize Lily." Professor McGongall interrupted. "It's not yours or James' fault. It's nobody's fault. I just need to know how he got into the school."

"Talk to Snape, Avery and Mulciber." James said.

"Right." Professor McGongall looked up, eyes clearing. "Right. Good idea James. Please go fetch me the three boys. I'll be here. The password is—"

"Chocolate truffles." James finished. "Right. Be back in a jiff."

He left Lily and McGongall to think to themselves.

"Did the three boys look surprised to see Rodolphus?"

Lily bit her lip, uncomfortable now that James was gone. She didn't want to be a snitch because it looked like the three boys had looked genuinely scared by the man. She didn't know what to tell her professor.

"Er—I don't suppose so, no." Her professor's eyes widened in shock. "But they did look scared of him!" She added quickly, but it was too late. Her professor was now up from her seat and speaking hurriedly to the portraits of the past Headmasters.

"Do any of you know of any other entrances into the school?" She asked frantically, looking around the room at the portraits.

All the portraits shook their heads, except for one who was deliberately ignoring Professor McGonagall.

"Phineas? Do you know something we do not?"

Phineas stuck his nose in the air and pretended not to hear Lily's obviously frantic teacher.

"Phineas please! This is urgent!"

Phineas continued on as the other Headmasters yelled, shooting rude hand gestures to him.

"Oy, Phineas!" Lily cried angrily. The Headmaster flinched but did not look down to her. Lily hated being ignored. "I know you heard me and I know you're from Slytherin and so are all the people that we are questioning you about so obviously you feel some tie to them but it's time to let go of your old rivalries and do something for this school that used to be yours!" Lily said quickly, not stopping for a breath until the end of her sentence. When she finished, the portraits were doing yelling and the room was quiet once more, all eyes on Lily. Including the eyes of Phineas.

"Before it's too late." Lily finished softly, knowing the consequences of waiting too late to help for some things. "People could get hurt. Or worse—" She choked out quietly, looking away from the portraits and quickly wiping her eyes.

When she looked back, Phineas was staring at her with soft eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and snapped it back shut again with a pretentious, snobby frown. "I know nothing about what you speak of." He said finally.

To say that caused uproar was an understatement. Again, people were yelling and saying harsh words, insulting people's mothers and insulting people's teaching ways. But then the office door shut and all was quiet again, as everyone looked to the four boys that had just entered the office.

"Headmasters." James said formally, seeing that all eyes were on him. "I present to you, three Slytherin boys by the name of Snape, Avery and Mulciber."

Snape's arms were crossed over his chest and he was looking away impatiently, but Avery and Mulciber looked quite shy under the gazes of all the past Headmasters.

"Boys." Professor McGongall greeted stiffly. "Would you like to tell me what happened last night?"

Avery and Mulciber looked to Snape frantically. Snape scoffed and rolled his eyes, fixing them on Professor McGongall boredly as if he had better things to do right now.

"Went for a stroll." Snape said. Lily and James exchanged impatient looks. James gestured to strangling Snape, so only Lily could see. Lily rolled her eyes at him and looked back to McGongall, though now she kept close watch on James.

"Oh really? With whom, might I ask?" Professor McGongall crossed her ankles as she sat down in her chair.

"Myself." Snape didn't even look at McGongall.

"Then why are these two boys accompanying you here?" McGongall gestured to Avery and Mulciber.

"You tell me." Snape countered. Most of the portraits behind McGongall gasped audibly.

"You, young man, need to learn that this woman is your teacher! You will not speak to her in that tone of voice!" A portrait told Snape, scandalized by his behavior. Snape didn't reply, ignoring this portrait. Lily clucked her tongue, wondering to herself if Snape and Phineas might've been related somehow. They seemed to have the same habits of ignoring people.

Snape turned his head towards Lily as he heard her cluck her tongue. She stared at him, eyes daring him to tell the truth. He looked at her, then his eyes cut to Avery and Mulciber, then back to her. He looked almost... sad? No, that wasn't the right word for it. Guilty? Lily cocked her head at him in question, and he shook his head ever so slightly, turning back to Professor McGongall as she spoke to him again.

"You have no idea why you are here?" Professor McGongall tried again.

"No." Seveurs answered, though his confidence had now wavered. He stared down at his trembling hands.

Professor McGongall threw up her hands in defeat and cried out impatiently. "Severus we can be here all day but I have the Head Boy and Head Girl telling me that you met Rodolphus Lestrange last night in the corridors. If this is true, you have to tell me this instant!" She slammed her hands down on the desk and watched him with unblinking eyes.

"He's not coming back." Severus said quietly.

"And how do you know this?" McGongall questioned, thankful she had finally gotten half an answer out of him.

"He told me. Hogwarts is in no danger of him, or any others. If you don't believe me, use Veritaserum."

Professor McGonagall straightened up and tucked her loose curls behind her ears. She looked from Snape to Lily to James with raised eyebrows. James and Lily exchanged another glance, and Lily knew they were both thinking the same thing: Is he telling the truth?

"If that is all..." Snape stood up cautiously, waiting for someone to tell him otherwise. Nobody did. He turned to walk out the office door, passing James on his way out. James was still watching Lily, silently asking if he should do something more. Lily shook her head, then turned to Avery and Mulciber, who stood behind her.

"You both may go." She told them. They followed Snape out, shutting the door with an empty slam that filled the room.

Lily turned to her professor. "What's wrong professor?" Lily asked, seeing McGonagall's worried expression.

"I'm not sure if I believe him or not."

"Well," Lily started. "I do." She ignored James' dropping jaw and continued on. "We may now not be friends but to be fair, I have known him much longer and been much closer to him than you both." She looked to her professor and boyfriend. "He's not lying. I know it."

Professor McGongall sighed. "Go to class you two. NEWTs in a week, don't forget."

Lily groaned. "Like we ever could."

James stared between the two of them, jaw still dropped. Lily tapped his jaw twice, smirking.

"You're letting flies in."

He closed his mouth. "Honestly? That's it? He's telling the truth and he's not going to get in trouble? Are you joking?" James demanded of his professor.

Professor McGongall sighed again. "His Head of House can punish him for being out after hours but aside from that, there's nothing else we can prove."

James looked at her in shock. "Seriously? We can prove anything with a simple potion that he_ invited_ you to try on him! _Veritaserum!"_

"We don't want to cause anything. I want you two to patrol every night from now on, though, alright?"

Lily and James' eyes widened. "You're kidding?"

McGongall shook her head sadly. "I wish I was. Extra precautions. We can't chance anything now."

"NEWTs are in a week professor, you said so yourself! How are we supposed to study?"

"These are your responsibilities. I'm sorry, but there's nothing else I can do." Professor McGongall looked genuinely sorry, but she wasn't going to change her mind, and Lily and James both knew it.

"Right. Okay. One week. Good Chat." James babbled, turning to leave. "Good bye." He said, taking Lily's hand.

Lily waved goodbye to her professor and hurried to Charms with James. Incidentally, by the time they got to class, their class was taking a practice exam. James glanced at the clock then moaned.

"There's five minutes left." He told her quietly, passing the occupied desks and stopping at Professor Flitwick's desk. "Sorry we're late. We had a meeting with Professor McGongall."

"Could we by any chance get a copy of this test to give to you by tomorrow?" Lily asked, biting her lip.

Professor Flitwick shuffled through the papers on his desk, finding two papers and handing them to the two seventh years. "On my desk by tomorrow morning, before classes. Any later and they're not being graded." He promised them.

Lily and James grinned, thanking their professor immensely. Lily put her test into her bag while James shoved his in, yawning.

"Tired, are you?" Lily smirked, yawning as well.

James nodded. "And you I assume?"

"We'll have to do this every night." Lily groaned.

"And study." James groaned, then gasped. "Shit!" He whispered, pulling Lily out of the classroom and shutting the door behind them. They didn't need to be in class, after all. "I've just remembered! Tonight's the full moon! Any chance you could get another partner for tonight?"

Lily groaned loudly. "You won't have any chance to do your homework, James!"

"I'll find time." He promised. "But can you find a partner? I don't want you on your own."

"I'll be fine." Lily said, waving a nonchalant hand. James grabbed that hand and held in between his two hands, forcing her attention on him.

"No. Not after last night. I know you trust Snape, but I don't, and while you do probably have better judgment on him, I have seen sides of him that you haven't. Get Mar or Jane to roam the halls with you. Or both, I don't care. Just don't be alone, alright?"

Lily nodded. "Okay. But you'd better be safe as well."

"I will." James laced his fingers through hers. "Let's get to History."

"Right."

* * *

"So how're things?" Lily asked Marlene. "How's Shawn?"

"He's good. Struggling with all the pressure, but who isn't, right?"

Lily had to agree to that. As she, Marlene and Jane roamed the halls; she thanked them again for doing this. "I know you should probably be studying right now."

"It's not a problem. Besides, all the guys are gone, and I need them for Transfiguration help. That's really all I need to study for. Well, except for History of Magic. I know I'm failing that for sure, but who cares."

"Say, where are the boys?" Marlene asked.

"Full moon." Jane winced, staring out the open window they had just passed. The moon's glow was brighter than ever. Marlene shook her head sympathetically.

"What about you Jane? We haven't had girl time in awhile and I miss it terribly! How're things in your love life?" Marlene sung, changing the mood and poking Jane in the ribs.

"Er, dull I suppose."

"That was a terrible answer Janey." Lily told her best friend. Jane's face heated up as she laughed nervously, pulling on pieces of her blonde hair.

"Stop. Look, you're nervous. What aren't you telling us?" Marlene said, pushing Jane's fingers out of her hair.

"I'm just worried about Remus. You know, he's not as gifted as James, Sirius and Peter in Transfiguration. I wish he would study a little more."

"Aw you're worried about widdle Wemus?" Marlene teased. "He'll be fine. He's smart. He studies harder than the three of them combined, and you know that."

"James and Sirius don't need to study the prats." Jane chuckled. "And Peter just doesn't give a damn."

"True." Lily agreed. "But we're Aurors no matter what. We're in The Order, remember? Our dream jobs have already been achieved."

A crease appeared in between Marlene's eyebrows. "Then why are we trying to get good marks?"

"To get a paying job, stupid." Lily teased. Marlene grinned and shoved Lily.

As the girls passed another open window, they stopped to look at the glow of the moonlight. They could see the Forbidden Forrest from where they stood.

"What do you think they're doing right now?" Jane asked.

"Maybe they're thinking the same thing about us."

"Well, you two anyhow." Marlene said. "Nobody's thinking about me."

"Untrue. Sirius looooves you." Lily sung.

"Wrong. He snogged Samantha Clearwater after the Order meeting last night."

"Doesn't mean he's over you." Jane pointed out. "And besides, what do you mean 'two of us'? Nobody it thinking of me out there."

"Remus might be."

"Remus is a werewolf. He's thinking about eating me."

The girls giggled at that, wiping away some of their worry. The more they talked about the boys the more they worried about them.

"And he wouldn't be thinking of me anyhow." As Marlene and Lily opened their mouths to argue, Jane cut them off. " It doesn't matter what you think. I'm worried about Remus but as a friend. He's a great friend and an even better person, but I'm leaving the country. It's time to stop thinking that there could ever be something more than a friendship between us."

Marlene and Lily closed their mouths, looking at their friend sadly. "Do you wish there could be? More than friendship, I mean?" Marlene asked.

Jane opened her mouth to say something, then swallowed it and choked on a small "yeah."

The three friends walked in silence for about five minutes.

"I'm glad you two are my best friends." Marlene said randomly.

Lily smiled. "That was uncalled for."

"The best things are." Marlene told her.

The three girls hugged, and Lily cried a little because she was so sad about her parents. Every time she was reminded about how great her life was, she immediately felt sad that her parents could never be there again to see it. She blinked away her tears before she pulled back so her friends wouldn't see, and she smiled.

"You girls are the best—"

Lily broke off as a loud howl sounded from the window they stood beside. Lil ran up to it stupidly, as if she could see anything past the dark trees.

"Oh no." Jane whispered.

"They'll be alright." Marlene said confidently. "Let's continue on. We'll see them tomorrow morning."

* * *

If by 'tomorrow morning' Marlene meant four thirty in the morning, she was correct.

"James?" Lily asked, rubbing her eyes. James clicked on a lamp beside his bed and dropped his cloak and the Map on his bed.

"Hey. I didn't mean to wake you." James apologized.

"S'alright. Couldn't sleep much anyhow. I finished Charms. You can copy it if you like."

"Thanks. Er, Lil... Sirius is hurt."

"What?" Lily sat up in bed, awake now. "Hurt how? What happened?"

"It's nothing too serious! He's just in the hospital wing right now, I was just dropping off my things, then I was going to go stay the night with him."

"Can I join you?"

James smiled. "Of course. Let's go."

* * *

"So what's wrong with him?"

"Crossed paths with a nasty werewolf. Dumbledore should really keep those forests safer."

"Not the time for jokes. What's happened?"

"He er, got cut. Right across the shoulder." James shuddered. "He was howling. Not as loud as Moony though. Bloody hell, Moony wouldn't shut up."

"Yeah, we heard him. So Sirius got hurt and then what?"

"Then he hobbled away as I held back Moony. Sirius transfigured—I hope or he's going to give Madam Pomfrey a startle—and checked himself into the hospital wing."

"And he told Madam Pomfrey _what_ exactly?"

"Not quite sure. We'll soon find out, I s'pose."

James pushed open the doors to the hospital wing and made his way over to the only occupied bed. Sirius sat up in bed and smiled at them. His wand tip lit up and helped them reach him safely, without waking Madam Pomfrey.

"How are you mate?"

"Not bad. Stings like hell." Sirius winced. Lily touched his knee softly.

"When will you be better?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Tomorrow. Ugh, I was hoping this injury would wait out the NEWTs and maybe I wouldn't have to take them—"

He was cut off as Lily hugged him around his middle. "I'm so glad you're safe."

Sirius barked out a quiet laugh. "What, did you think I'd sport a permanent injury throughout my entire life?"

"I just don't know what to expect when you boys come back from the full moon. It's just so dangerous."

"It's what we have to do." Sirius said softly. "But we're always okay. Sometimes a little scratched up—" Sirius turned to show them his injured arm. Lily gasped at the line of banages that ran from the top of his shoulder all the way to his elbow. "But altogether, always a good-looking bloke."

Lily giggled, taking James' hand and putting her other hand on Sirius' knee. "Thank God there's only a week left of this, eh?" She motioned the walls around her.

"You're not going to miss it?"

"Oh, of course I'll miss it, are you mad? I'm just saying that with everything that's going on, hopefully things will be better once we get settled down."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "'Settled down?' Am I missing something here?"

James chuckled. "No, not yet. I promised you'd be the first to know, remember?"

Lily rolled her eyes as Sirius made James promise that he could be the best man and that he could wear his own tie to their wedding.

"I'll wear the most extravagant tie to have ever exsisted." Sirius promised them both.

"Can't wait." Lily said tiredly, yawning.

"Go on, sleep. Thanks for coming, by the way."

"No problem." Lily closed her eyes, looking around for a chair to sleep on. She found one and dragged it over to Sirius' bedside.

"Aw, don't sleep on one of those, you'll ruin your back." Sirius shuffled to the far side of his bed, patting the empty spot. "There's plenty of room. You don't mind, do you Prongs? I'll keep my hands to myself!"

James chuckled tiredly. "I'd trust you with my life, Padfoot. I'm just so offended that you offered the bed to the girl. I am your best mate, after all."

Sirius barked out another laugh, ending it with a yawn. "Next time."

"There'd better _not_ be another time. Not while we're still at Hogwarts anyway." Lily spoke up sleepily. "Promise?"

"Promise." The boys said in unison. Lily, satisfied, knew she could sleep in peace, as she knew that.

"I love you two." Lily said quietly.

"Love you too, Lil." James said, kissing her forehead. "And you, Padfoot." He tousled his best friend's curly hair.

"Love you Lily." Sirius said, patting her thigh. "And I love you Prongs." Sirius smiled at his friend, who sat in a chair and smiled back.

And so the trio fell asleep within seconds, and the hospital wing filled with their snores.

* * *

**AN: Thank you so much for reading and please review! I each and every review I get and if you liked this, then please tell me! :)  
Anyhow, yes things are busy for the seventh years. I'm not sure how many more chapters are left until it'll be finished. If this is the 17th chapter... I'll probably be finished by 20. TWENTY? Yes, twenty. I know how to finish this story and I'm pretty pleased with it, but I may decide to have a couple more chapters. I don't want this story to end as much as you don't! :D  
I love my reviewers.**

**-Taylor :)**


	18. Incredible

**BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG THANKS TO: VioletRose, nacho5, ThatStrangeJilyShipper, pixies114, LoneElfFlight, and Go . Marauders . And . Lily!  
SUPPPERRR late but thanks for hanging in there. Hope you enjoy, anyhow.**

* * *

"OUT!"

"Madam Pomfrey, really, we didn't mean to—"

"OUT!"

"We're sorry! It was an acci—"

"OUT!"

"Alright, alright!" Lily and James ran to the doors at once, Madam Pomfrey chasing them out of the Hospital Wing.

"Detention tomorrow night! Cleaning the bedpans!" She shouted before slamming the doors in their faces.

They looked at each other for a beat of silence, then burst into howls of laughter.

"Bloody hell!" James exclaimed, leaning on the wall. "I completely forgot that she'd be there in the morning!"

"Her expression was worth the detention." Lily chuckled. "It probably wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't been sleeping in the same bed as him."

"You think it'd have been better if she'd caught Sirius and _I_ sleeping together?" James asked mock-earnestly. Lily snorted into his shoulder, hugging him around the waist and kissing his cheek.

"What time is it?" Lily gestured to his watch in question.

"Er, six thirty." James said.

"My God." Lily laughed, putting a tired hand to her forehead. "Well, we've got time before classes. How 'bout we study?"

James groaned. "I hate studying."

"And I hate failing. So studying it is."

"But I'm rich! I don't need a job!"

Lily stared at him for a moment. "Well, I'm not rich. So you can help me, then."

"Help you become rich?"

"Help me study." Lily corrected, rolling her eyes. "You know, the last trip to Hogsmeade is right after our final NEWT exam. What do you say? Go to The Three Broomsticks and drink to celebrate?"

"Sounds like an excellent plan, my dear." James said, taking Lily's hand. "Let's go back to our dorm, shall we?"

"We shall." Lily said formally, laughing.

Once the couple got to their dorm, Lily sat down on James' bed, bouncing up and down. James watched her curiously.

"You know, I'm not sure I want to study anymore." She raised her eyebrows at him suggestively.

James grinned, playing along. "Really Evans? What else did you have in mind?" He sat beside her.

"This." She said, kissing him. She hung her arms around his neck and tangled her fingers in his hair, moving her lips to his jaw. James pulled away quickly, staring at her with an odd expression on his face. "What?" Lily asked self-consciously, looking down at the floor.

James grabbed Lily's hands and held them to his heart. He took a deep breath, then hopped off the bed and stood in front of her, kissing her hands.

"You know, I'm not sure if this is the best time, but I don't care anymore." James admitted.

"The best time for... what?"

"I'm dead tired and we just got a detention and you know what, I probably couldn't think of an even worse time to do this but—"

"James." Lily cut off his rambling. "What?"

James kneeled on one knee in front of her. Lily's eyes widened, as she put her hand to her mouth, surprised.

"Give me your hand, love. I'm going to do this right." He reached for the left hand that was cupping her mouth. She put her left hand in his hands, as he stroked his finger over the promise ring he'd given her for Christmas. "Lily Evans. This ring was bought for you, when I first decided I wanted to marry you. Do you want to know when that was?"

Lily blinked back tears as she shook her head confusedly.

"First year."

Lily froze.

"I'm joking."

Lily relaxed, punching him lightly with her free hand. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry." He chuckled, running a nervous hand through his hair. "Anyhow, I bought this ring for you and asked to you do me the grand honour of marrying me. You wanted to wait, so I waited. During that time that I waited, however, I noticed something."

"What's that?"

"I didn't have your parents' blessing."

Lily was silent for a moment. "Wh—"

"I asked them while we were at Petunia's wedding. They were so happy, Lily. I wish you knew how happy they were for you. For us." He squeezed her hand, as she looked away, feeling tears dotting the corners of her eyes. "They told me they'd never seen you happier than when you were with me. They said anyone who made their daughter happy could marry her. The truth is Lily, I care about you. Quite a lot, actually." James looked down at Lily's hand. "So Lily Evans," James choked a little, his laughter cracking. "Beautiful, hilarious, clever, green-eyed, freckly, ginger, Lily."

Lily choked on her laugh, not bothering to wipe away the tears that were sliding down her face, eventually dropping into her lap, which was clad in her pajamas from the night before.

"Will you marry me?"

Lily broke down. She began sobbing and flung herself into James' arms, nodding. They sat together on the ground, hugging and laughing and (in Lily's case), crying.

After she had calmed down a little, still in James' arms, she spoke into his ear: "Yes. Yes, James I will marry you!"

She kissed his face all over, covering him in her tears of joy and happiness.

"I love you more than anything in the world, Lily Evans. You are my world. Without you, the sun wouldn't light up the skies. Without you, my life would be an endless, dull winter. Without you—"

"Oh, shut up." Lily cut in, laughing and kissing him on the lips. James chuckled into her lips, cupping his hands around her face.

"Green-eyed, freckly, ginger, Lily." He repeated, staring into her eyes deeply. "My fiancée."

"Four-eyed, Quidditch-playing, messy haired, James." She laughed. "My fiancée."

"I could get used to that." James said. "Except I resent that bit about the four eyes."

Lily giggled. "I resent the freckly bit."

"You are freckly." James said, kissing her nose and her forehead, where she had the most of her freckles.

"And you are four-eyed." Lily said, taking off his glasses and putting them on.

"Please hand over the glasses." James put his hand out. Instead, Lily grabbed his left hand and looked at his ring finger. She put the glasses on the bed and kneeled, staring closely at his finger. "What? What's wrong?" He asked.

"Your finger is too bare. You don't have an engagement ring."

"I don't need one. I'll just get a band when we get married."

"When are we getting married?" Lily asked, standing up and brushing off her pajamas. "By the way," She added, waving her hands up and down her body. "So glad that you proposed to me while I'm in my pajamas. So romantic."

James snorted. "I told you it was the worst timing ever."

"But the best proposal ever." Lily said, holding out her hand to help him up.

"And we're getting married in the beginning of August I've decided." James said confidently, taking Lily's hand and standing up.

"Beginning of August... Jane will have already left for Romania..." Lily frowned.

"We could do it earlier?" James suggested.

"She leaves in three weeks. I know _I _can't plan a wedding in three weeks."

"August it is." James decided. "Who knows? Maybe she can fly back just for our wedding."

"That'd be nice." Lily said. "But now it's time for me to get dressed, because I've spent too much time crying and not enough time getting ready for today." Lily sniffed one last sniff, then smiled. "I call shower first!" She yelled, sprinting into the bathroom.

"Hey wait—!" James shouted after her. She slammed the bathroom door and he could hear her giggling from inside. "Is this what married life is going to be like?" He demanded from the other side of the door.

"Pretty much, yeah." She giggled.

There was a pause in which Lily wondered if he had walked away. She heard a sigh from the other side of the door and pressed her ear up to it to hear him mumble: "I'm very much looking forward to it."

* * *

"Almost ready, Lily?" James asked approximately a half hour later.

"Nearly!" She called back, hooking in an earring and stepping outside of the bathroom to see his bookbag slung over his shoulder and hers in his hand.

"James, quick. Hair up or down?" She demonstrated them both to him.

"What's the occasion?" James looked at her curiously.

Lily threw him a look. "We just got engaged."

"Right." James snapped his fingers as if he'd forgotten. Lily threw him another warning glare, and he chuckled. "Down." He decided.

"Right. Be out in just a mo'..." She sung, brushing her hair one last time and applying lipgloss. She stepped out of the bathroom again and tucked her shirt into her skirt more properly. "How do I look?" She asked, spinning around a bit.

"Same as you did before, only know you've got your robes on instead of your pajamas."

"You're such a boy sometimes." Lily rolled her eyes, taking her bookbag from his hand. He snatched it away from her reach just before she could take it, holding it away from her grasp. She raised an eyebrow in concern. "You alright?" She asked.

"Just dandy." He answered, slinging her bookbag over his free shoulder. He stepped past her and opened the door. "Ladies first."

"Thanks..." Lily deadpanned, watching him carefully as she stepped out of their dorm. "I can take my bag, James."

"No no, I insist." He waved down her arm again. "After all, you called me a '_boy_'." He shuddered.

Lily paused, hands on her hips, staring at him incredulously. "You'd rather be called a girl?"

"I'd rather be called a _man!" _James puffed out his chest for effect. "Obviously I need to show you my manly man side. I've been neglecting that side lately, but that needs to end now! I can't go around having you think I'm a _boy_." He scoffed.

Lily, still staring at him with her hand on her hips, giggled. "Alright, my manly man. You can carry my books around all day." She patted his shoulders gently, brushing some hair behind his ear. "We'll see how much your shoulders hurt by the end of the day and maybe then you'll end this."

"Never. Not until you've called me a man." James promised. "By Godrick, Lily, if I am going to be your husband I am going to be a man!"

"Mmhm." Lily deadpanned, grabbing him by the elbow. "Now come on, we've got breakfast calling our names, boy!"

She chased ahead of him, running down the stairs as he called down desperately: "That's _'man' _to you!"

* * *

"So, we've got some news to share." Lily put down her spoon and pushed away her cereal bowl.

Jane and Peter raised their eyebrows, exchanging worried glances. "Good or bad news?" Peter asked nervously.

"Hmm depends who you ask." Lily said uncertainly, looking at James. James rolled his eyes and nudged her, and she burst into giggles. "I'm joking, oh look at their faces, James!" She nudged James back, gesturing to the worried looks on Jane and Peter's faces. "It's good news!"

Jane let out a breath. "Well, you never know nowadays, do you? Especially not with both Sirius _and_ Remus in the Hospital Wing!"

"Sirius should be let out by now. He's probably still getting dressed." James explained.

"Thanks for leaving me." Marlene interrupted tiredly, sitting down beside Jane. Jane held up her hands defensively.

"Hey, you're the one who told me to 'bugger off' when I tried to wake you!"

"Yeah, and the alarm you set me for me five minutes after was much better." Marlene said sarcastically, rolling her dark brown eyes and pouring some cereal into her bowl.

"Back to the news." Peter interrupted the two girls, turning to Lily expectantly. "Good news?"

"Good news." Lily confirmed, twisting to face James, as he ate his cereal. "D'you want to tell or shall—"

"We gettif ma'ied." James said through his cereal, spitting out several bits onto the table.

"Beg your pardon?" Marlene said, rubbing her eyes. "I may still be half-asleep but I'm nearly positive I'm not the only one who didn't understand a word of that."

Lily sighed. "James is being very romantic today."

"Sarcasm is an excellent colour on you, my dear."

"Thanks, love." Lily answered, handing James a napkin. "Anyhow, what he meant to say was that we're getting married!"

Jane dropped her spoon on the table. "Get out."

"You're bloody joking!" Marlene exclaimed.

"Prongs, what?" Peter asked excitedly.

"In August. Just thought we should tell you lot because you're obviously going to be our groomsmen and bridesmaids." James told them, wiping his mouth.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Jane cried, drumming her hands on the table enthusiastically. She stopped. "Wait. Did you say August?"

Lily winced. "That's the month, yeah."

"I—I can't. I'll be in Romania. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, we know. It's all right. We understand completely." Lily said.

Jane sighed, defeated. "Maybe I can fly in just for a weekend or something."

"Yeah, maybe." Lily said weakly.

Silence.

"Well, er—congrats." Marlene said rather awkwardly.

"Yeah. Good on you two." Peter said, beginning to eat his cereal again.

"So... good." James said, looking around the room.

"Great." Lily corrected. James looked to her, smiling.

"Fantastic?" He added.

"Wonderful."

"Incredible."

Lily blinked, then smiled. "Incredible."

* * *

"Potions. Dem Potions. Oh yeah, Potions!" James and Sirius sang, waltzing their way to their next class.

"Unnecessary." Lily sung under her breath, watching them dance crazily ahead of them.

"I heard that, and I disagree." Sirius called over his injured shoulder to Lily. His damaged arm still had millions of bandages wrapped from his shoulder all the way to his elbow, and he had pushed up his robes so that you could see the bandaging. Lily chuckled. He was such an attention-begger. She had to admit that it _was_ working for him though: So far into the day he'd already had five girls come over and swoon over him and his wound. "This is a wonderful time that we are graced to be in, Ms. Evans. Or should I say, Mrs. Potter?"

Lily rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Not yet you shan't. I'm keeping my maiden name until the day of. I'm still an Evans."

"Alright then, come along, Evans." James sung over his shoulder, which held Lily's bookbag.

"Right Potter." She said, skipping towards them. She couldn't help feeling jubilant herself: It _was_ a nice time to be alive. James slung his arm around her shoulders as she came close.

"I love you, Evans." He said into her ear, kissing her cheek tenderly.

"And you, Potter." Lily said back, giggling.

"Am I a man yet?" James asked.

"Mmm, no. Still a boy."

* * *

"Class, don't sit down just yet! I've arranged a seating plan because I don't want you helping out your neighbors. What with NEWTs simply days away, you need to start being more independent in class." Professor Slughorn announced to his class of Gryffindors and Slytherins. Lily knew without guessing with whom and where she'd be sitting.

"In the desk right in front of me," Professor Slughorn began. Lily reached to James to grab her bookbag off his shoulder. "Lily and Severus!" He declared excitedly. Lily rolled her eyes. Oh, if she were a betting woman she'd make a fortune.

"H'llo." Lily said, taking out her Potions textbook as she reached the desk.

"Hi." Snape said back. After about five minutes of Professor Slughorn calling out names, Snape cleared his throat. "So er, I'm sorry to hear about your parents."

Lily realized mid-sentence that Snape was speaking to her. "Oh, don't be sorry." Lily said calmly. She looked Snape straight in the eye and said: "They made a filthy mudblood daughter, and they were only stupid muggles anyway."

Snape opened and shut his mouth several times. Lily turned away from him, satisfied.

"I-I'm sorry." His quiet voice said. Normally, Lily probably wouldn't have heard it through all the chaos of the other seventh years being sorted into different seats, but she had found herself almost praying he'd say something more.

"Sorry for what?" She asked him, not speaking loudly, but knowing he could hear anyhow.

"For your parents. They didn't deserve to die."

Lily gritted her teeth, looking up from her textbook, but not daring to look at him. She concentrated on keeping her anger down as she stared at the blackboard. "Nobody deserves to die, you twit." She hadn't meant to add the 'twit' part at the end, but it just had sort of slipped out. She didn't regret it. She just normally didn't name-call in arguments.

"I know a couple of good candidates." Snape said grimly. Lily looked up quickly, and Snape's gaze flicked back to his textbook at once. Was it just her imagination of had Snape been glaring in the direction of James and Sirius?

"_Nobody_ deserves to die, Snape."

"Whatever, _Evans_."

There was a lengthy pause in which Lily wondered if Snape was ever going to speak again. Lily rolled her eyes finally and began working on a potion at the back of her book. She went to the cupboard to get some supplies, where she met Jane.

"Hey, you okay? Things are getting pretty heated up over at your table." Jane said.

Lily looked up at the cupboard, getting her supplies. "Um yeah, everything's fine." She hadn't known people had _noticed_.

"I'm sorry for calling you a twit." Lily sighed as she dropped her supplies on her table.

Snape looked up with bored eyes. "Okay."

Lily's hands clenched. "So, I've been meaning to talk to you about what happened the other night."

Lily saw Snape's hands tighten around his cauldron. Lily continued on as if she hadn't noticed.

"What did you mean when you told Rodolphus to tell him that 'it was exactly as you'd told him before and that they'd lied'? Whom are you talking about?"

Snape cut up some ingredients. "No one that you'd know."

"Why are you friends with Rodolphus anyway?"

Snape scoffed, dropping his knife. "I'm not bloody_ friends_ with him! He trapped me and my friends in a corridor and he wasn't leaving until he got some information, so that's what I gave him, all right? I shouldn't have gotten a week of detentions. I'm the one who got him to leave our school!"

Lily stood for a moment, speechless. She recovered. "And the one who made him come into our school as well, I'll bet."

"You'd lose that bet. I didn't make him come into our school."

"But he was looking for you!"

"He was looking for information and I'm the only one smart enough to have it!" Snape exploded.

Heads turned towards their direction, but luckily for them, Professor Slughorn was at the way other end of the dungeon, helping Peter with his potion. Lily waited until all her classmates had turned back to their potions, then she spoke very quietly and very deliberately to Snape.

"Don't flatter yourself, Snape. You can have all the information in the _world_ but you will _never _be smart." She told him flatly. "I lost all faith in your intelligence when you said that some people deserve to die."

"Dying is going to happen someday to all of us. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just setting themselves up for failure."

"And you'd know a lot about that, wouldn't you?"

Snape paled, choking on his words. "I—I don't know anyone who thinks they will be immortal!" He got out.

Lily stared at him. "I didn't say you did. I meant you knew a lot about failure."

"Oh." Snape relaxed. "Right. Okay."

"Snape, tell me one last thing," Lily said, adding the finishing touches to her potion, then looking up at him. "What do you think of when I say 'The Order'?"

Snape's brow furrowed. "The Order? What's that supposed to mean?" He narrowed his eyebrows suspiciously. "Is this some sort of prank?"

Lily's potion burbled as she lost all hope in that plan. "Er—never mind."

"Ah, Lily." Professor Slughorn interrupted. "Your potion's looking magnificent. Mind if I show the class?" Professor Slughorn asked, already picking up the cauldron.

"Um, actually—" She said, reaching for her cauldron back. Professor Slughorn cocked his head to one side curiously.

"Er, no, not at all." Lily finished lamely, dropping her hands by her side.

"Great, great. Class, look here—!" Professor Slughorn began. Lily tuned out the rest, watching Snape carefully. Snape had looked completely clueless to the name of The Order, so it couldn't have been him who'd been telling Voldemort about it. But then who? She had been so sure that it was Snape who was relaying all this information to Voldemort. Who else knew?

* * *

"Hey Remus!" Lily cried, running into the Hospital Wing at lunchtime. James walked behind her, carrying with him some food for Remus.

"Hi Lily! Hey Prongs!" Remus said, sitting up in his bed. He had dark purple circles around his eyes. "What's up?"

"The sky." James smirked.

"Original." Remus remarked dryly.

"I thought so."

"Anyhow," Lily rolled her eyes, chuckling. "We've come with news!"

Remus waited, grinning. Lily sat down beside his feet.

"We're getting married!"

Remus kept smiling. "Well, obviously."

Lily and James exchanged amused glances.

"When's the big day?" Remus continued.

"Beginning of August." James told him. "Did you er, know this was going to happen?"

"I knew it would be sometime soon."

"How?"

Remus shrugged. "You're very easy to read, Prongs."

James smiled sheepishly, then grinned. "And guess what, Moony?"

"What?"

"You're invited!"

Remus widened his eyes and gasped, putting a hand to his head as if he felt faint. "How unexpected! Oh, you've _completely _caught me by surprise!"

"Not as easy to read as you once thought, huh?" James smirked.

Remus grinned back, dropping his false-surprise act. "I truly am _so_ happy for you both."

"Thanks Remus." Lily said, hugging him, then pulling back, frowning. "You need a shave." She told him.

Remus snorted. "You think this is bad, you should've seen me last night."

They all laughed together at that. Lily changed the subject. "So, will you be back by tomorrow?"

"Should be, yeah." Remus answered, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Thanks for this, by the way." He held up his sandwich in gratitude.

"No problem at all." James told him. "Well, we should get going."

"You'll be back after classes." Remus stated.

"Pardon?" Lily asked, amused.

"Madam Pomfrey has informed me that you will spend tonight cleaning the bedpans." Remus recited.

Lily groaned. "I'd forgotten, shoot." Then she turned to James. "And we've got rounds after that."

"Nothing short of busy bees, you two are." Remus told James and Lily, smiling.

* * *

"He's right, you know." James said, as he shut the doors to the Hospital Wing.

"Right about what?"

"Being busy bees and all." James answered. "I don't know where in all this madness we're ever going to have time to study."

Lily smirked. "I thought you didn't need to study. You're rich."

"_We're_ rich." James corrected.

Lily frowned. "_I'm _not."

"You are come August. What's mine is yours. What's yours is mine." James laced his fingers through hers, smiling.

"Y-you're right." Lily said, staring at him.

"As usual." He interrupted.

Lily continued on as if she hadn't heard him. "But... that means I don't need to get a job."

"Yep."

"And if I don't need to get a job... I don't need to study." A small smile danced across Lily's lips.

"Hold on. You still need to _pass." _James interrupted.

Lily scoffed, smile growing wider. "James, do you realize what this means?"

"Uh, no."

"It means for the first time in my life I don't have to study!" She said excitedly, taking both his hands in hers and jumping up and down. James stared at her, then snorted.

"You're rich and you don't need to study. Now you know life as James Potter." He told her.

Lily laughed. "This is crazy! I've never been rich!" She said, then paused, eyes clouding over. "James..." She started, staring at him somberly. "I can't let you just pay for everything. I mean... I'll have to contribute _somehow."_

James waved a lazy hand. "Nah, you don't."

"Yeah, I do."

"Lily. You. Do. Not." James leaned against a wall casually. Lily stopped walking and stared at him, as he smiled to her from the wall. "If they wanted, I could buy all three of the Marauders a home—furnished—and they'd never have to pay a single Knut."

Lily opened her mouth to say something but James cut her off. "Seriously. It's not that big of a deal. It's only money."

"Don't say that." Lily told him sternly. "You don't know how rare and precious money is to some people."

"Well—I guess you're right. I'm not trying to brag or anything, I just want you to know that you're protected with me." James looped his arms around her waist, smiling. "Whether it be financially, or anything else. You'll _always_ be safe with me."

Lily smiled. "Oh yeah?"

"Yes. That's what _men_ do."

* * *

**AN: Bleah I'm sick so I'm staying in bed all day. Hopefully I'll get some writing done, and please _please _review. I mean, there's not many chapters left of this and I really want to hear from you guys. I know there are people who read and don't review, and if you're one of these people, pleaaase review. I'd love it so much.  
Thanks again for reading. I love you all.**

**-Taylor :)**


	19. The Stag and the Doe

**So I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter I've ever written (I think it's like, 7000 words or something? yikes), so I'll just be on with it. Thanks thanks thanks to: nacho5, Ranma's Girl1, SecertKeeper1095, ThatStrangeJilyShipper, MaddisonPotter, MissMaryLiz, jeka8, and pixies114!**

* * *

Lily showered. Lily dried her hair. Lily changed into her uniform. Lily tied up her hair. Lily put on her shoes. Lily paced. Lily danced. Lily cleaned up her dorm. Lily folded all her clothes.

Basically, Lily stalled.

It was the day that she'd told herself she was ready for.

She wasn't.

She looked at James, who was still asleep comfortably and without worry. She bit her lip, wishing she could be as carefree as her fiancée.

_Her fiancée_.

Maybe before, that word might have scared her a bit. It didn't now. In fact, she couldn't think of a time she'd been any more confident in her decision.

She loved James. Sure, they weren't the perfect couple. But they were perfect for each other. Like a doe and a stag, it was simply unnatural that she should be with anybody else.

She often times found herself thinking of the future and thinking of what awaited for her in time. James was always there. No matter what the future called for, he would always be there.

But today was the day she was going to be alone to work on her NEWT exams. The seventh years had all gone to bed reasonably early last night, but not before a small party in the Gryffindor common room. They had all toasted to what had definitely been the best year of Hogwarts that they'd all had.

Lily smiled in memory of last night, as James groaned from his bed.

"Good morning." She said brightly, walking over to his bedside and kissing him on the cheek.

"Mmm." James smiled tiredly at her. He fumbled around half-blindly on his bedside table. Lily silently handed him his glasses. "Oh." He said, rubbing his eyes before putting them on. "Thanks."

Lily smiled, sitting beside him on his bed. She bit the skin around her nails, watching him stand from his bed and walk into the bathroom.

He was back in mere minutes, now wearing his uniform and drying his hair with a towel.

"You," He sat beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders and bringing her closer. "Are nervous."

"I wonder why." Lily muttered sarcastically, hugging him round his waist.

"You'll do fine." He assured her calmly. "And afterwards, I'll buy us celebratory Butterbeers at The Three Broomsticks."

Lily brightened. "That sounds wonderful."

James smiled back. "Now c'mon." James said, then stood up, holding out his hand for her to take. "We've got NEWTs to do."

* * *

All the seventh years of Hogwarts sat in the Great Hall, writing their very last NEWT exam of the day. Quills scratched on parchment, as the last exam was the written part of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Hands were cramped up, and students were yawning but no one gave up, determined to stay positive for what would be their very last chance at Hogwarts to do their very best.

"Two minutes left, students." The old examiner announced.

Lily looked up from her finished paper wistfully, feeling extremely nostalgic. She still had a couple more days at Hogwarts, but after today, she had officially finished her NEWT exams. Between today and graduation day, nothing else mattered. There were no more days to do extra credit work, and all the class work that teachers put out were simply for old times' sake.

Nothing else mattered after today.

Lily saw Professor McGongall sitting in the corner of the room, watching over the seventh years. Professor McGongall's gaze drifted over Lily, and she caught her eye.

Professor McGongall watched her for a moment. Lily raised her eyebrows at the teacher that had known he ever since she had been eleven years old. Professor McGongall smiled thoughtfully, and Lily smiled back.

"Last sixty seconds!"

Professor McGongall looked away, as Lily shook her head, chuckling, staring down at her paper one last time. She took her arms off the desk and placed them gently in her lap, pushing her paper away from her. There was nothing more to look over, nothing more to add. She had done her very best.

"Quills down!" The examiner announced, as the exams whizzed off the desks of all the seventh years and onto his desk in a neat pile. "You have finished your final exam. Congratulations."

And all hell broke loose.

Cheers erupted as students stood up on their desks. Lily stared at Professor McGongall and the examiner, who did nothing to stop them. They were apparently used to this sort of behavior after NEWTs.

"Oy, Evans!" She heard be called. She whipped around, seeing James and Sirius dancing on their desks. "Give a whistle if you want the shirts off!"

Lily raised an eyebrow, then grinned. She whistled with enthusiasm as Sirius and James peeled off their shirts, swinging them around and cheering. They conducted the seventh years that remained in a chorus of: "We finished our NEWTs! We finished our NEWTs!"

She joined in, punching her fists in the air and laughing louder than she'd remembered doing in a while. She was soon joined by Marlene and Jane, who swung their arms around her shoulders. They all swayed and sung along, before Lily caught the eye of someone else.

"Er, be back in a mo'." She told her friends, walking determinedly through the ocean of seventh years. "Severus!" She called. "Severus!"

Severus Snape turned.

"Not your scene?" Lily asked humoredly, motioning to where Remus and Peter now joined their best friends, also dancing along to the song with such glee that it made Lily grin just watching them.

"Not exactly." Severus answered, no humor in his voice, but no hatred for once either.

"Are you going to Hogsmeade later today?" Lily asked, and found herself genuinely interested in the answer, unlike many of their small chats during Potions.

"Not sure." Severus said. It had been awhile since Lily had heard him speak to her in a voice with no hate. She'd almost forgotten what it sounded like.

"Listen, Severus." Lily started. "I'm really sorry about this entire year. It's been confusing and I'd really like to put it behind me. I'm sorry for bringing you into it. You didn't do anything wrong."

Severus' stared at her for a moment. "It's alright." He said, his voice soft. He coughed a little and his voice changed back to his normal monotone. "I—er, yeah. I..." He took a breath. "I'm sorry as well."

"I know." Lily smiled softly. "It's alright." Lily laughed a little. "Goodbye Severus." She made to turn back to her friends, but instead, she stepped closer to him. She hugged him.

As she pulled back, his face was a little more flushed than usual. She was sure hers was as well. "Sorry. Goodbye."

As she turned away from him, her eyes went to the Marauders. Three of them danced confidently on the desks, clapping along with the remaining seventh years. One of them was watching her carefully, still dancing, but with a concerned frown on his face.

She smiled at James. He stared at her for a moment, then smiled understandingly, turning back to the group of students.

"Who's up for Hogsmeade?" James called loudly, using his wand to magnify his voice.

Every single student in the room cheered, Lily was sure of it. James jumped down from the desk with his friends, and ran up to where Lily stood by the wall, grabbing her round the waist and swinging her around.

"Everything alright?" He whispered into her ear.

"Everything is perfect. Absolutely perfect." She pulled back and kissed him. He kissed her back, hands holding her head as she slipped hers around his neck.

* * *

"To seventh year!" A seventh year cheered, holding up his glass. Everybody held up theirs, taking a drink.

"To finished NEWTS!" Sirius stood, as everybody held up their glasses again and took another drink.

"To Hogsmeade!" Remus cheered, as everybody held up their glasses and drunk another time.

"To Hogwarts!" James cheered. Everybody toasted again, clinking all around and smiling widely. James looked to Lily expectantly. Lily looked back, shaking her head. James nodded, grinning. He put his glass down, and whispered something to Sirius. Lily watched as Sirius nodded and grinned.

They both picked her up and stood her on the huge table that all the seventh years sat around. Lily stood still for a moment, feeling all eyes on her.

"To us!" She yelled loudly, holding up her drink high. The cheers erupted and she grinned, hopping down from the table and clinking her glass with all her friends.

James swung an arm around her shoulders and held her close for the rest of the evening. As the crowd in The Three Broomsticks started to thin, Lily looked up at James.

"Care to go for a walk?" She asked.

James smiled. "I'd love to."

* * *

It was late in the day, but the sun still shone on them.

"Gets darker quite later now." Lily noted. James looked up at the bright sun.

"One of the many perks of summer." He commented. She looked at him.

"I hated you." She said casually, as if she were still commenting on the weather.

"I know you did."

Lily was surprised. He didn't even miss a beat.

"Did you hate me?"

James squinted up at the sky, holding up a hand to block out the sun. "Nah."

"Why not? I was awful to you." Lily looked down, ashamed of her past self.

James simply shrugged. "But I knew you were only awful to me."

"I'm lost." Lily admitted, confused. James looked down from the sun and smiled at her.

"You were a sweetheart to anyone else. The teachers loved you; all your friends loved you... What wasn't to love from the Golden Girl?"

"That's not true."

"Oh, it was." James told her. "Lily Evans: smart, talented, nice, Prefect, Head Girl. Was there ever any doubt?"

"For me? Yes." Lily stated.

"For anyone else? No." James countered. "But while you were nice to everyone, you were, well—awful to me."

Lily looked down again. "I know."

"But that gave me hope. I was different, somehow, from everyone else. I stood out. The Golden Girl hated the Quidditch Captain. The Prefect hated the troublemaker."

Lily smiled to herself.

James shrugged. "It gave me hope that maybe I was something more to you." He looked down from the bright sun to meet her eyes. "Let's go to the Quidditch pitch."

* * *

"So you didn't hate me?" Lily clarified.

"Oh, you were quite annoying at times." James told her, chuckling. Lily snorted. Yeah, _she _was the annoying one. "But hate?" James asked. "No way."

"I hated you." Lily said again.

"I know you did." James replied again.

They were both silent for a moment, staring up at the sky that was now turning a pretty shade of light pink. Lily shut her eyes.

"I wish I hadn't." She said, eyes still closed.

"Why's that?"

Lily sat up, staring down at him at he lay on his back. "I wish we'd had more time together." She told him. He had his arms propped beneath his head, as he watched her.

"We had seven years together." He pointed out.

Lily snorted. "And for six of them I hated you."

James was silent again. "Things turned out all right, though. That's all that matters, isn't it?"

Lily sighed, lying back again. "I suppose so." She let out a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He turned his head to look at her, as his fingers entwined with hers. "Everything turned out all right, remember?"

Lily smiled. "It turned out all right for the stag and the doe."

James smiled back, eyes sparkling. "That has a nice ring to it."

They sat in silence, watching the light pink turn to a darker pink, then to a purple, then to pitch black, the only light emitting from the stars and the moon.

"It's late." Lily sat up.

"Five more minutes." James begged.

Lily agreed, and lied back down, curling into him. He wrapped his arm around her as she laid he head on his chest.

"James." She whispered tiredly.

"Yes?"

"You never told me why you didn't hate me."

James chuckled softly. "I could never hate you, Lovely Lily." He admitted, brushing her wisps of hair from her face gently. "I despised the fact that you hated _me_, but I never hated _you._"

"You're a much better person than I am." Lily told him, feeling shameful again. He had never been as awful as she was to him.

"Hey, now..." James said, hugging her around her waist. "We've both changed a lot since then. I don't blame you at all, and I hope," James laughed uneasily. "You don't blame me."

"Oh, I blame you." Lily teased, giggling.

"We've both changed for the better and although we're not perfect people, you're perfect to me."

"And you're perfect to me." Lily smiled, nuzzling her head against his chest. "I love you James."

"I love you too, Lily."

* * *

Lily awoke to the bright light of the sun in her eyes. She reached to her left to close the curtains, but found simply air. She felt around her. It didn't feel like her bed.

She opened one eye and saw the bright blue sky. She sat up quickly, surprised.

"James?" She called, as she remembered that they had fallen asleep on the Quidditch pitch. She got up, rubbing her bum. The ground was pretty hard.

She made her way to the change rooms, feeling uncomfortable and hoping that the team didn't have practice this morning. Before she could make her way over the threshold, a gust of wind flew over her head, along with a broomstick and a body.

"James!" She called angrily, fixing her hair. He laughed and did a couple of loops, before landing beside her, smiling.

"Morning." He said.

"Yeah." She grumbled. He laughed again.

"Care to take a ride on my stick?"

Lily raised an eyebrow at his word choice, as his musical laugh filled the Quidditch pitch again.

"Get you head out of the gutter, you know what I mean!" He laughed, holding out a hand. She looked at the broomstick curiously.

"Does it even hold two people?" She demanded.

"'Does it even hold two people' she asks me." James rolled his eyes. "Of course it does!"

"I've ridden a broom before, you know." Lily looked at him challengingly.

"Further wondering why you don't trust it now..."

"Oh, I trust the _broomstick_." Lily chuckled, then paused. "I'm just not sure if I trust _you_."

James snorted, then snapped his fingers angrily. "Curses! You've foiled my evil plan to push you off my broom!"

"Did you just say 'curses?'"

"Oh—" James said impatiently, waving it off. "Would you please just get on the broom?" He gestured to the back of his broom, which was bare.

She looked at him again. "Can I drive it?"

"Lily, you don't _drive_ a _broom._"

"Whatever." Lily waved it off, then looked up at him expectantly. "Can I?"

James paled. "Th-this is my Nimbus 1500."

Lily stared at him for a moment, then smiled expectantly again. "So can I?"

"Er—"

"I'll be extra careful!"

"Why the sudden interest in flying my broom?" James raised an eyebrow.

"Trying to do thing that I've never done. Starting with sleeping on the Quidditch pitch, and now..." She stared at the broom.

"You told me you'd flown a broom!"

"I told you I'd ridden a broom." She clarified. "Well, I did fly once in First Year, but that was rubbish."

James scratched the back of his neck. The lessons they gave you in First Year were rubbish but... He looked at his Nimbus 1500. Then, a thought struck him.

"Wait, when did you ride a broom then?" He asked curiously.

She smiled. "When I was dating Peter."

"Davies?" James asked.

Lily nodded.

"Curses." He said. Lily giggled. "I can't be beaten by Davies. If he has let you ride his broom, I've got to do him one more." James hopped off his broom ceremoniously. "Yes, you may fly her."

"_'Her?_'"

"Well, it's certainly not going to be a _He_." James said dramatically. Lily giggled again, and hopped on the broom. James bit his lip.

"Don't you trust me?" Lily asked him, seeing his pained expression. James looked up.

"To be quite honest, no." He admitted.

Lily grinned. "Good. Now hop on."

James swung his leg over and held onto her waist. "I hope you know what you're do—" He was caught off guard when she took off, heading straight for the sky. "Lily!" He yelled, nearly falling off the edge of the broom.

"Oops." She giggled, righting the broom. James was starting to question his decision.

"Er... That's enough for today, eh?" He asked her nervously.

She let out a melodic laugh and swung the broomstick down, as they sped towards the ground. They got closer and closer until James couldn't watch any longer and closed his eyes shut, wincing.

Five seconds later, he opened them. They floated just above the ground. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Finished?" He asked.

"Not quite." Lily grinned, and swerved them jerkily to the right. Then to the left. Then all around the Quidditch pitch, swerving joltingly through the hoops and laughing. James relaxed a bit and laughed along with her, until finally, she dropped low to the ground and hopped off the broom.

"That was quite fun." She told him, still grinning, and her ginger hair in knots.

"I'm glad." James smiled. "Now what?"

"I beg your pardon?" Lily asked.

"Well, you said you wanted to start doing things you've never done."

Lily stared at him thoughtfully. "This is true."

"So... what's next?" James asked expectantly.

Lily thought for a moment. Then, the perfect idea hit her.

"Let's prank Sirius!"

* * *

"Lil, shut up." James winced, as his fiancée tripped over something else.

"I'm sorry. It's _pitch dark_!" She hissed back, walking straight into him, then cursing. "Ow. I think your elbow bruised my boob."

"Good." James deadpanned, not really listening to what she was saying. He had his ear pressed against the doorway, listening for when Sirius would come in.

"Are you sure this is the right entrance?"

James gave Lily a look that she did not see, due to the darkness. "Yes." He said curtly.

"I can't believe we're doing this!" Lily squealed.

"Lily! Shut up!" James hissed. Lily stopped immediately.

"Sorry."

James suddenly heard a door open and shut. He reached for Lily to signal her to be extra quiet.

"James. That's my boob." She pointed out, swatting his hand away. James suppressed a laugh.

"Sorry. My hands are like magnets."

"Shut up." She whispered, though he could hear her smiling. "Is he in there?"

"Yeah. Just wait until—" James heard the familiar sound of the shower turning on. "Ahh. Excellent. Have you got your weapon at the ready?"

Lily pulled out her wand evilly. "Oh yes."

"Good." James whispered. "Be extremely quiet."

He stood on his tiptoes to push up the tile that they stood underneath. Lily watched in amazement as he climbed up through the square hole, and reached down for her. She let him help her up, as she had to suppress her giggles.

As the shower walls were foggy, she could only see a skin-coloured figure through the glass.

"And you're sure it's him?" Lily whispered quietly.

"Positive." James reassured her, then looked at her. "I'm ready when you are."

Lily grinned evilly. "I'm ready."

"Lily." James put out an arm as she walked forward. She looked at him.

"Yes?"

"I love you so much right now."

Lily's grin simply grew wider. "Let's do this."

* * *

"My body is gold and red."

"Gryffindor colours." James smiled.

"My _body_. Is _gold_. And _red_."

"I personally think it suits you." Lily suppressed a laugh.

"It's temporary, I presume?"

"You presume properly." James answered. "It'll last about a week."

"Oh I'll have it for graduation. Mum and Dad'll be so proud."

Sirius sat in a bathrobe on his bed, as Lily, James, Remus and Peter all sat on Remus' bed, watching him.

"I still can't get used to it." Remus muttered to Peter.

"I don't think I ever will." Peter muttered back.

They were all silent for a moment.

"Can I just clear the elephant in the room?" Remus spoke up. They watched him expectantly. "Did Lily seriously see Sirius starkers?"

Lily giggled again. "I didn't look, I swear."

"Prongs, I am quite disappointed. This is a rather novice prank." Sirius piped up.

"Oy! I thought it was quite brilliant!" Lily spoke up defiantly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"_You_ would." James leaned over. "It was _your_ idea."

Lily deflated, as all four boys laughed at her. She laughed along with them after a while.

"I still can't get used to it." Remus muttered to Peter, watching Sirius' red and gold body shake with laughter.

"I don't think I ever will." Peter muttered back.

"Well," Lily spoke up suddenly. "While this has been fun, I've got places to go." Lily sat up.

"People to see?" Remus guessed.

Lily snapped her fingers at him. "Bingo." She said goodbye to them all. "And goodbye Sirius!" She said, hugging him and laughing at him one last time. "My pranks will get better with time. You've all got to include me in them from now on, okay?"

Sirius smiled. "Sure Lil."

She walked out of the room, and as the door swung shut, she heard them all burst into laughter.

"There's no _way_ she's being included in our pranks."

* * *

"Good morning." Lily said as she entered her best mates' dorm room. Jane was already awake, applying mascara on her lashes. She turned at the sound of Lily's voice.

"Hey." She said, then gestured to Marlene with rolling eyes. "She's still asleep, obviously. Stayed up all last night with _Shawn_." Jane sung the word, giving it a whole new meaning. Lily laughed.

"So, I have a proposal for you both." Lily said, smiling nervously.

"Yeah?" Jane asked.

"Yes." Lily answered, as Jane and Marlene's dorm mates, Eliza, Lisa and Penny entered.

"Oh, hey Lily." Eliza said brightly.

"Shh." Penny quieted her friend. "Mar's still asleep."

"Sorry." Eliza apologized. "We're just changing into shorts."

"Shorts?" Lily questioned. "What about uniforms?"

"Uniforms." Lisa snorted. "Slughorn said they didn't matter now that we're finished."

"But don't you want to wear yours a couple more times? For old time's sake?" Jane asked with wide eyes.

The girls were silent for a moment.

"You know what, I think I _will_ stay in my uniform." Penny decided. Eliza and Lisa agreed, and the girls were gone as soon as they'd come.

"Lily?" Marlene moaned from her bed.

"Hey."

"Why are you here?"

"I've a proposal."

"But you're already married to James."

"Not that kind of proposal!" Lily laughed. "Get up."

* * *

"I'm starting to rethink this..."

"NO!" Jane and Marlene both cried at the same time, giggling.

"You can't!" Marlene said.

"Yeah, you promised!" Jane giggled again, dumping her makeup bag on the counter of the bathroom.

Lily had just taken a shower with Marlene's hair products, and now she sat in a bathrobe on a stool, readying herself.

"I shouldn't have even said anything." Lily muttered.

"Hey, you're the one who said she wants to do stuff she's never done before!"

"But I _have_ put on makeup before, I do it nearly everyday!" Lily argued.

"But you haven't let _us _do your makeup!" Marlene cried, laughing. "We've been begging you to let us do it for years!"

Lily sighed. "Alright then. Get on with it."

Her best friends giggled and they were off to work. They blow dried. They curled. They brushed. They pampered. They did everything Lily had never let them before, and they made sure to turn Lily away from the mirror, so she couldn't see any of it.

"Are you sure you're not turning me into a clown as a prank?" Lily asked nervously.

"Oh c'mon. And ruin what we've been begging you to let us do forever? Of course not." Jane tittered. "Now hold still. Finishing touches."

And before she knew it, they had told her to sit up, turn around, and look. And so she did.

"Wow." She breathed, touching her hair. It was in perfect curls that framed her face beautifully. And her makeup! "Wow!" She said again, moving closer up in the mirror.

"And you'd never let us do it." Marlene crossed her arms over her chest proudly.

"It looks great. What'd you use?" Lily widened her eyes in the mirror, trying to see everything that they'd done.

"Wizarding things." Jane sighed. "Marlene scoffed at all my products, but she was right. Her makeup _is_ much better."

"Told you." Marlene sung under her breath, as Lily engulfed them both in a hug.

"It's looks wonderful, but do you think this is really appropriate for school?" Lily asked, touching her curls.

"Duh." Marlene scoffed. "Who cares anyway? We don't do anything in school now."

"True." Lily smiled. "What will James think?"

"He'll probably tear off his clothes just at the sight of you." Jane said.

Lily gasped, laughing. "Well, I feel excellent and you two are excellent so er, thanks."

"No problem." They both laughed. "Now go find James."

* * *

Lily ran down the stairs and into the common room. She saw Peter sitting alone, writing on a slip of parchment.

"Peter!" Lily said. Peter jumped nearly five feet in the air, and stuffed the paper into his coat pocket.

"L-Lily!" Peter said nervously. "H-hi."

"Hey..." Lily looked at him strangely. "Anyhow, where's James?"

"Er, I th-think they all went down to the k-kitchens." Peter stuttered.

"Great." Lily answered, bouncing away and vaguely wondering who Peter had been writing to. Maybe it was a love letter, she thought to herself, smiling.

She reached the kitchens and dashed in. "Marauders!" She called.

A small house elf appeared. "Hello Miss Lily!" The house elf bowed. Lily smiled.

"Hello." She said warmly. "Haven't seen a couple of boys around here, have you?"

"That's _men_ to you!" A voice called from behind a curtain. Lily grinned and walked to the curtain, seeing the three boys eating at pastries.

"Cakes? Cookies? For _breakfast?_"

"Go big or go home." Sirius said between bites.

"_You'll_ be big for time to go home." Lily shook her head at the three of them, eating pleasantly.

"Clever." James said, still eating. He looked up at her, and his jaw dropped. He stared at her for a moment as she smiled coyly.

"Yes?"

"You er... look quite nice." James said weakly.

Sirius and Remus looked up.

"I think what Prongs meant to say is that 'you look _incredibly_ fit, Lily.'" Sirius said, gaping and grinning. James scowled at his best mate and nudged him. Sirius grinned at Lily one last time before turning back to his desserts.

"Why wasn't Peter invited?" Lily asked the boys. "I saw him in the common room by himself."

James raised his hands in defense. "Hey, we invited him! He just said no."

"Oh." Lily relaxed. "Alright. What's he doing?"

"Writing to his parents." Remus said between bites.

"Oh." Lily said again, then smiled. "Well, I hope you've saved some for me."

The boys all laughed together in a knowing way, and called for more pastries.

Lily smiled. "Dessert for breakfast. Cross that off the list."

* * *

"So, you've slept on the Quidditch pitch—" James started, before being cut off.

"_'Slept?_'" Sirius repeated, grinning knowingly and suggestively at Lily. " Lily slept with Prongs?"

"We sleep together every night." Lily said nonchalantly, reaching over for a napkin. Sirius spat out the juice he was drinking. James howled with laughter with Remus, as Lily handed over the napkin to Sirius.

"Funny." Sirius remarked sarcastically, after he'd cleaned himself up.

"Yes she is." James agreed, kissing her on the lips.

"Ugh." Remus groaned. "Save it for tonight."

"Oh," James leaned around Lily to wag his eyebrows in his mates' direction. "_We will_."

As the two boys pushed away their food from lack of appetite, Marlene and Jane joined the group.

"Where's Peter?" Jane asked.

"More importantly, where's Shawn?" Marlene grinned, craning her neck over the table of Gryffindors to spot her boyfriend. She smiled as she spotted him. "Don't mind if I spend the morning with him?"

"N—" Lily started, before Marlene was off before she could even finish. Lily sighed and smiled.

"Wormtail's writing a letter." Remus answered Jane. Jane smiled and sat next to him, pouring herself some juice.

"Continuing on..." James began again. "Lily's slept on the Quidditch pitch—"

"You _slept_ on the _Quidditch pitch?_" Jane repeated. James sighed loudly and sat his head down on the table in defeat.

"Continuing on..." Lily started where James left off. "Quidditch pitch, I flew a broom, I allowed my mates to do my makeup and hair—"

"Oh so _that's_ why you're so sexy today!" Sirius exclaimed in understanding.

"Padfoot." James warned. Sirius grinned cheekily.

"Had dessert for breakfast..." Lily continued, listing them on her fingers.

"That's the first time you've had dessert for breakfast?" Remus asked, surprised.

"That _isn't_ the first time you've had dessert for breakfast?" Lily challenged. Remus grinned impertinently and drunk his juice in silence.

"So what else can I add?" Lily asked her friends.

"What else haven't you done?" Sirius asked, scowling as a couple first years passed him with wide open mouths and pointing at him, scandalized. "You're letting flies in." Sirius smiled annoyingly at them. The first years shut their mouths and ran away, laughing. Sirius scowled at Lily, as she tried to contain her laughter.

"I _still_ say it's a novice prank. _Anyone_ could've thought of it."

"But _you_ didn't, did you?" Remus nudged Sirius teasingly. Sirius rolled his eyes and crossed his gold and red arms over his chest, turning away from his friends bitterly.

"Oh, and I pranked Sirius." Lily added as an afterthought to the list. "Five things. I want at least seven done."

"Why seven?" Jane questioned.

"Seventh year." Lily gestured to the room around her. Jane laughed and nodded, eating her cereal.

"So you need two more." Remus said, putting a thoughtful hand to his chin.

"I've got one." Sirius spoke up suddenly from his bitter state.

"Shoot." Lily said challengingly.

"Kiss Peter Davies."

The group was silent.

Remus burst into laughter. Jane covered her mouth with her hands, trying to suppress her giggles. James raised his eyebrows higher than Lily had ever seen him do. Sirius just sat there, watching Lily with the same challenging look she'd just given him.

"My _ex-_boyfriend?" Lily asked, incredulous.

"Correct."

Lily looked to James, whose eyebrows were still arching into his hairline. She muffled her snort as she shrugged at Sirius nonchalantly, and crossed the room to march to the Ravenclaw table.

"Hey Peter!" Lily called to her ex-boyfriend. They weren't friends anymore, but they didn't hate each other either. They were just neutral. This might change things up a bit, Lily presumed, as she grabbed him by the tie and kissed him on the cheek. "Right. Have a nice life." She said brightly afterwards, and waved goodbye. Peter looked at her as if she had just sprouted wings, and waved back confusedly.

"There. Six." Lily sat back down with her friends. "No more thoughtless things." She said to Sirius. "I don't want this turning into one of your stupid games of Truth or Dare." She rolled her eyes.

Sirius narrowed his, and turned away from her again, offended. "A cheek kiss." He muttered to himself bitterly. "_Novice_."

* * *

"I've got an idea." James leaned over to Lily as they found seats in their first class of the day.

"Nothing that could get me in trouble." Lily warned before he could even continue. James frowned.

"Well, _that's_ no fun."

"Class," Professor McGongall called out. "I realize that the NEWTs are finished, and hopefully, you've all passed them. However, now what do we do with ourselves?"

The class waited.

"That wasn't a rhetorical question." Professor McGongall said impatiently. It was clear that she did not like the words that she was saying. "And so every year during this time, the teachers let the seventh years decide. You've only got one more day at Hogwarts before Graduation, so..." She paused, holding an exasperated hand to her forehead. "What would you like to do?"

"Let's go outside!" Sirius shouted. The class cheered in agreement. It was a beautiful day outside and they all wanted nothing more than to get out and enjoy it. Professor McGongall sighed.

"Outside it is, then. What would you like to do outside?"

"Quidditch!" James suggested. The other students on the Quidditch team cheered, but everyone else was silent.

"How about swimming?" A Hufflepuff by the name of Karen Jones suggested. This got a couple good-natured cheers, but not many.

"Please professor," Lily began, raising her hand. "Why don't you just let us go outside and from there everyone can do whatever they want to do?"

Professor McGongall nodded. "Alright then class. Let's go."

* * *

Apparently, seventh year Transfiguration students weren't the only ones to notice the weather out today. Nearly every student was outside, sitting in the shade or tanning by the lake. Some seventh years swam and some played Quidditch, but everyone was wearing a smile.

"Impossibly ironic, isn't it?" Marlene leaned over to Lily, as they lay in the sun.

"What's that?"

"Everyone seems to be looking happy, which means they must neglect to remember that we will all be leaving in two days time, and never coming back as students."

Lily was silent. Jane spoke up from the other side of her: "Wow Mar, way to be such a downer."

Marlene laughed. "It's true and you both know it!" She said in her defense, laying back down. "Sometime by tomorrow everyone will realize and they will fall."

"Fall?" Jane repeated, raising her eyebrows and chuckling uneasily.

"You know... fall from their reverie. This isn't _our_ paradise anymore, y'know? It's time for a new batch of lucky eleven year olds to get their letters of acceptance, and it's time for us to go. We had our run. It was amazing, but it's finished now. Time to grow up."

"Wow." Lily said, impressed. "That was... incredibly deep."

"And incredibly depressing. I'm falling, Mar." Jane sighed. Marlene smiled, wrapping her arm around Jane's shoulders.

"And you. You're going to Romania." Marlene said, in a false-accusatory voice.

Jane blinked. "Yeah."

Lily nudged Marlene. Marlene turned, raising an eyebrow in question. Lily rolled her eyes and nodded to Jane, who now sat in silence, staring up at the sky. Lily spotted a tear slide down her best friend's cheek.

"Janey..." Marlene started in apology.

"Can I just... have a minute? Please?"

Lily and Marlene exchanged looks. "Sure, Janey."

* * *

"Hey Professor, what's up?" James asked their Transfiguration teacher as she approached them during lunch.

"James, Lily, please follow me to my office."

James and Lily exchanged concerned looks, but followed their professor down the hallways of Hogwarts.

"What do you think this is about?" James whispered into Lily's ears as they passed a portrait of a dancing hippopotamus in a tutu.

"You'll find out soon enough." Professor McGongall said loudly from in front of them.

"Forget _eyes_ in the back of her head..." James muttered, as their professor led them into her office. Lily had to stifle her giggles with her hand.

"Please, sit down." Professor McGonagall waved them down, as she sat behind her desk. Lily noticed that her office was unusually clean. Empty, almost. Lily had forgotten that the teachers had to pack up all their things for the summer as well.

"We're not in trouble, are we?" James asked apprehensively.

"Have you done anything that should earn you trouble?" McGongall demanded.

James looked from Lily to McGongall, and stifled a laugh. Lily cocked an eyebrow and he simply grinned in response.

"Right." Professor McGongall sighed. "Anyhow, that's not the reason you've been called down here."

James and Lily waited.

"The graduation ceremony is in mere days—"

"Two." Lily interrupted quietly.

Professor McGongall raised her eyebrows. "In _two days." _She corrected herself, as Lily smiled. Professor McGongall shook her head. "And the Head Boy and Girl usually prepare a speech for the occasion."

Lily and James caught each other's eyes before staring in different directions of the room, avoiding their professor's gaze.

"This will not be a problem?"

Lily choked on a surprised laugh. "Do you really think we're the right people to be doing this sort of thing?"

Professor McGongall looked quite affronted. "I should hope so. You are Head Boy and Girl."

"Yes but—" James began, before Lily cut him off.

"Really, we're not that great with words. You're better off to choose a Ravenclaw or something."

"Yes, really." James agreed.

"I can not believe you two!" Professor McGongall exclaimed. "Do you know why we teachers chose you two to represent the school as students?"

"Honestly, I've been asking that question since day one and still to this date have never gotten an answer." James admitted, chuckling and running a hand through his hair.

Professor McGongall sighed impatiently. "Originally, we chose Lily as Head Girl."

"Surprise, surprise." James muttered. Lily punched him in the arm.

"Every teacher agreed that you were the perfect combination of respectful, responsible, smart and talented." Professor McGongall said. "And still to this day, I believe you still possess all those characteristics, and much_, much_ more." Her voice was soft and different from Lily had ever heard it sound. Lily smiled warmly, feeling emotional.

"Professor—" Lily began, voice cracking.

"And James." Professor McGongall turned to James, no smile on her face. Her voice was no longer soft, but rough instead. "The troublemaker. The class clown. The," Professor McGongall cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Best student in my Transfiguration class."

James grinned. "I am so telling Sirius!"

Professor McGonagall sighed. "The first boy in over a century to become a Head Boy and not have been a Prefect."

Lily gasped. James widened his eyes. "A century?"

Professor McGongall nodded. "Yes, choosing you was a risky decision, but I now see it was the right decision. You've turned out to be a fine lad, Potter. And an even better Head Boy. Like Lily, you're the perfect combination, but you are different from Lily." Professor McGongall sighed. "Not respectful in the least,"

James chuckled.

"But responsible when given the opportunity. Proving nearly half the teachers wrong."

James smirked, proud of himself.

"Smart, talented..."

Professor McGonagall's eyes softened again. "I am truly proud to say that I've taught you two for seven years. I've seen you both grow into such wonderful people, together. Ever since the first day of class, I knew you two were different, somehow. Now, I don't have favourites..."

Lily and James leaned forward in their seats.

"But I've had the time of my life teaching you two. Thank you." She said proudly.

Lily didn't realize she was crying until she felt the first tear fall into her lap. She looked up at her professor with tear-filled eyes.

"Professor—" Lily started, voice uneasy.

"Now, now." Professor McGongall stood from her desk, walking over to the open window and having her back to them. "Go work on your speech."

Lily and James stood, knowing it was time to go. Lily wanted nothing more than to hug her teacher, but she resisted, knowing not to. As they walked out, they heard a small sniffle from their beloved professor, before they shut the door and they walked back to their dorm, hand in hand.

* * *

"Hey, Marlene..." Sirius stood above her. Marlene lay by herself on the dry grass, tanning.

She opened an eye. "Hey Sirius. What's up?"

"Can we talk?"

Marlene opened both her eyes.

"Um, of course. Is something wrong?" She asked concernedly. Sirius took a deep breath and sat down beside her. She sat up, leaning back on her arms.

"Nothing's wrong, no." He chuckled. He flicked a lock of his hair out of his face and tried again. "I er—"

Marlene chuckled. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

Marlene was surprised. She knew well that apologizing was not something Sirius did easily. It had to be about something very important to him.

"For... what?"

Sirius sighed. "For—" He changed course. "Are we friends?"

Marlene smiled. "I'd say so."

"Am I a _good_ friend?"

"I'd _hope_ so. I don't make it a habit of having _bad_ friends." Marlene joked. Sirius still looked mildly uncomfortable, but he did seem grateful for the joke. She was glad. She knew he hated serious topics.

"Who was the better boyfriend?" He blurted out suddenly, catching Marlene off-guard. By his relieved sigh, it was obvious this was the real question he had wanted to ask.

"Sirius—" Marlene began.

"Please." Sirius asked her, his eyes soft. "I can take it."

"You already know the answer." Marlene said softly.

"I know I just..." He winced. "I want to hear it from you."

"Why?" Marlene asked, just as quietly. "I don't want to hurt you."

Sirius winced again. "I just wanted to know. So... It's McKinnon? For sure?"

Marlene looked up at him with sad eyes. She nodded. "Yes."

Sirius nodded an understanding nod. "Was I... a good boyfriend?"

Marlene smiled a sad smile. "Second best. Easily."

Sirius forced a smile. "Would've been first."

"You can't be my boyfriend and my best mate, though Sirius." Marlene said quietly.

Sirius raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Best mate?"

Marlene nodded.

"Really? After everything?"

"The best mates are the ones who've been through the most." Marlene explained. "I know if I ever had a problem, you'd drop everything to help me."

"And you'd do the same for me." Sirius said suddenly, as if finally understanding this now. Marlene nodded, smiling warmly.

"The one thing I'm glad about this year was knowing you." Marlene told him, sitting closer to him.

"Me too, Mar." He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a one-armed hug. "And thanks."

"For what?"

"For... everything." Sirius smiled a true smile and stood up, waving. Marlene waved back happily; knowing the last trauma in her life had finally been sorted out.

* * *

**AN: Whew. Finally, 7000 words-completed.  
I have an announcement, however. Although I have been saying it in the past couple of chapters, it hasn't exactly been anything final.  
But I now know for sure.  
The next chapter will be the last chapter. The End! La Fin!  
I really hope (at least for the last chapter) I hear from you. Yes YOU. There are so many readers who don't review and you just need to know how much it would mean to me if for the last chapter, you took one minute to write me a review of what you've thought about this whole story. I can't know until you tell me, and it really would meant the world to me.  
So thanks for sticking around. See you next chapter.**

**-Taylor :)**


	20. Not The Last Chapter

**I'm really sorry, to say the least.**

I know this is way too late and you all probably don't even care anymore anyways, but I am stuck. Major writer's block, you feel me?

So, I have taken a break. Not from writing in general, but just in writing this piece of fiction. I was getting frustrated and that's hardly the mood to be in when writing (unless writing an angry piece of writing, which I wasn't).

If you're still here, thanks. I'm so sorry for all of this mess and I don't know when it will be sorted out.

But, if you're interested, during my break I have been writing one shots. One shots are pretty cool because they're short and easy and you don't have to worry about finishing them (which is basically my main problem with this fanfiction). The one shots are titled "Invisible Magic" if you're interested.

But thanks for sticking around. Sorry for everything. Hope you all understand and know that I am so grateful to have great readers and reviewers such as yourselves.

Seriously. Thanks.

-Taylor :) :/ :$


End file.
